Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Nvidia will jointly develop "physical artificial intelligence (AI)" that understands human movement and applies it to robots.
KAIST said on the 26th that it will establish the "Nvidia AI Technology Center (NVAITC)" to promote joint research in physical AI with Nvidia.
KAIST's Department of Mechanical Engineering Human Physical Intelligence Research Center will serve as the joint research hub. The Human Physical Intelligence Research Center is a research center founded around Professor Gong Kyung-chul's lab in wearable robots and Professor Kim Jung's lab in biorobotics, with Professor Kim Jung and Professor Gong Kyung-chul serving as co-directors. From Nvidia, Charles Chung, senior manager at the AI Technology Center, will participate to provide technical expert advice and developer technical support.
The center will build a human motion foundation model. The model learns large-scale human motion data to understand and predict various human movements and can also newly generate movements themselves. It is expected to become a core underlying technology that will enable wearable robots and humanoids to accurately grasp users' intentions and movements and respond naturally.
KAIST and Nvidia plan to form an operations committee and review research goals and progress every six months. They also agreed to hold an international symposium each year, inviting domestic and overseas researchers to share the latest research outcomes and industry trends in physical AI.
A "student ambassador program" for KAIST students will also be run. Nvidia experts will provide lectures, regular mentoring and counseling, and carry out projects with students. The first cohort will select 5 to 10 participants, and participating students will receive training focused on Nvidia Omniverse and Digital Twin technology, with certificates issued to those who complete the program.
KAIST President Bae Choong-sik said, "In the era of physical AI, competitiveness comes not from AI itself but from domain technologies and data built on a deep understanding of humans and robots," and added, "By combining KAIST's accumulated human-centered research with Nvidia's world-class AI infrastructure and physical AI technology, we will realize physical AI that better understands and helps humans."