South Korea’s push to build “physical AI” robots is beginning with a training method that starts on the shop floor—and in hotel banquets—capturing how skilled workers move and handle objects. A South Korean robotics startup, RLWRLD, is wiring employees at Lotte Hotel Seoul, logistics sites operated by CJ and a convenience store chain operated by Lawson to collect the motion and force details it says can teach robots to perform advanced physical tasks.
At Lotte Hotel Seoul, David Park worked for nine years in the hotel’s five-star food and beverage operation, folding napkins the way he has done “thousands of times,” while body cameras strapped to his head, chest and hands recorded his movements. Park said he had been doing the process “about once a month,” as engineers prepared him for tasks including wiping down wine glasses and tableware while colleagues set up for real service nearby.
RLWRLD’s approach extends beyond a single workplace. The company collects similar data from logistics workers at CJ, capturing how people grip, lift and handle goods in warehouses, and from staff at Lawson, tracking how they organize food displays. Company engineers said the effort aims to build an AI software layer that can operate across robots for a range of factories and work sites, and that could later expand into homes.
In describing what the company is trying to replicate, RLWRLD said the priority is replicating the dexterity of human hands. The startup also said it recently unveiled its robotics foundation model, and that it expects industrial AI robots to be deployed at scale “sometime around 2028,” a timeline shared by major businesses.
The broader “physical AI” race is central to South Korea’s strategy for an AI transition rooted in robotics and manufacturing. The government last month announced a $33 million project to capture the “instinctive know-how and skills” of “master technicians” into a database for AI-powered manufacturing, aiming for robots that can boost productivity and help offset an aging, shrinking workforce.
Business plans reinforce the push. Hyundai Motor plans to introduce humanoids built by its robotics unit, Boston Dynamics, at its global factories in coming years, starting with its Georgia plant in 2028. Samsung Electronics plans to convert all manufacturing sites into “AI-driven factories” by 2030, with humanoids and task-specific robots across production lines.
While researchers and companies emphasize the manufacturing fit, labor groups are concerned about the consequences for employment and skill ladders. Billy Choi, a professor at Korea University’s center for Human-Inspired AI Research, said the focus is on humanoids “tailored specifically for those industries.” But unions have said the stakes are higher: Kim Seok, policy director at the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, said in a statement that “Mastery of skills is ultimately a human achievement — even if AI can replicate existing abilities, the continuous development of craft will remain fundamentally human,” and warned that widespread robot deployments would risk “severing the pipeline” for skilled labor.
The debate is already affecting political messaging. After Hyundai’s union warned in January that robots could trigger an “employment shock,” President Lee Jae Myung issued a rare rebuke, describing AI as an unstoppable “massive cart” and calling for unionists to adapt to changes “coming faster than expected.”
Inside RLWRLD’s robotics program, engineers say the motion data is transformed into machine-readable training material and then tested through repeated runs on robots. Hyemin Cho, who handles business strategies at RLWRLD, said capturing motion data in real-world settings is “extremely important” and that the quality of the data matters greatly. The company’s robotics team said it adds another layer by repeating tasks with cameras, VR headsets and motion-tracking gloves to provide finer detail such as joint angles and the amount of force applied.
RLWRLD demonstrated its progress in a lab inside Lotte Hotel, where engineers guided a wheeled robot with black, humanlike metal hands. During the demonstration, the robot gingerly lifted and placed cups at a minibar and knocked over a dish; other test footage showed a more advanced system opening a box, placing a computer mouse inside, closing it and setting it on a conveyor belt.
RLWRLD is also developing five-fingered hands intended to mimic human touch. Song Hyun-ji of the company’s robotics team described the training process, while Choi said five-fingered designs may not always suit factory needs but could be important as robots move into homes where closer interaction with people will be required. The company said its hospitality robots are intended for behind-the-scenes tasks such as cleaning once the systems are ready, adding that humanoids might be able to take on about 30% to 40% of that workload, while it said replacing the remaining portion involves direct human-to-human interaction.