Samsung Electronics will set up a dedicated robotics business organization reporting directly to the CEO and integrate related personnel and technologies dispersed within the company. From establishing mid- to long-term strategies to developing core technologies and commercialization, one organization will take charge with the plan to foster robots as a future growth business.
Samsung Electronics said on the 21st it will launch the Robotics eXperience (RX) Business Promotion Office, an organization operating under the direct supervision of CEO and president Roh Tae-Moon, who heads the DX (finished goods) division. The new organization will integrate all existing related units, including the Future Robotics Task Force. By concentrating the companywide robotics-related technologies and personnel that Samsung Electronics has secured, it will establish mid- to long-term business strategies and technology road maps. It will also push ahead with the development of core robotics technologies and the commercialization of products and services.
The main base will be the Seoul R&D Campus in Umyeon-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul. Samsung Electronics plans to consolidate the workplaces of robotics personnel scattered across multiple business sites at this location and expand office space and laboratories needed for robotics development and commercialization.
At the Gumi establishment, it will build a "data factory" to leverage robotics data. It will secure robotics data needed for field deployment and, in collaboration with the research organization at the Seoul R&D Campus, advance robotics AI and control technologies. In the United States, China and Japan, it is operating global research hubs and is expanding its robotics business capabilities by leveraging each country's robotics technologies and industrial ecosystems. It also plans to actively recruit local researchers there.
The mid- to long-term strategy for the robotics business will be overseen by Vice President Lee Dong-geon of Samsung Electronics' Planning Team. In this reorganization, Lee was appointed head of the Robotics Strategy Team under the RX Business Promotion Office. Lee previously handled robotics strategy, including the operating direction of Boston Dynamics, at Hyundai Motor Group.
Kim Hyun-jin, a Seoul National University professor who has researched intelligent autonomous robotic systems and robot control, and Kim Ui-gyeom, an Ajou University professor in robotic hand and object manipulation technologies, are also set to join the RX Business Promotion Office. Samsung Electronics plans to recruit additional experts across robotics fields.
Samsung Electronics first invested in domestic robotics firm Rainbow Robotics in 2023, then increased its equity and made it a subsidiary last year. Since then, Samsung and Rainbow Robotics have jointly developed robots for manufacturing sites, humanoid-based technologies, and a physical AI engine, among others.
Earlier, in its first-quarter earnings announcement this year, Samsung Electronics said it would first develop industrial robots and then expand accumulated technologies into home and retail. It also plans to internalize core robot components and pursue cooperation with domestic companies alongside additional investments and acquisitions. Samsung Electronics recently announced an investment plan to build a mass production system for humanoid robots and a robot data factory in Gumi. The launch of the RX Business Promotion Office is a follow-up step to link research and development, manufacturing, data acquisition, and commercialization into a single execution framework.