Samsung establishes a robotics division

Samsung created a robotics division called RX, and its first product could be a humanoid robot.

Leadership and Location

Dongkun Lee, formerly of Hyundai, will oversee its strategy. Lee joined Samsung in May as an Executive Vice President and previously led Hyundai's robotics strategy, including Boston Dynamics'. Samsung CEO TM Roh himself will oversee the new division.

RX will be based in Samsung's Seoul facilities in South Korea. However, Reuters reports that the company is also planning to build robotics research hubs in the US, China, and Japan to tap into the expertise of locals.

Strategic Context

RX's establishment signals that the company, like many of its peers in the tech industry, is getting serious about working on projects revolving around the development of physical AI. Recent moves by other tech giants illustrate the trend:

• Hyundai recently purchased the rest of Boston Dynamics for the same reason.
• In February, a robotics company established by Alphabet to design robotics for manufacturing was folded into Google.
• OpenAI is working on a series of devices meant to be the physical manifestation of ChatGPT, the first of which is believed to be a speaker.

Manufacturing and Timeline

According to Korea JoongAng Daily, Samsung intends to start manufacturing humanoid robots sometime this year. Roh previously announced that the company will invest 19 trillion Korean won ($13 billion) to develop manufacturing facilities in its Gumi, Korea site for the production of its humanoid robots, CNBC says.