Posco DX, NC AI join forces to develop physical AI brain for industrial robots

Posco DX and NC AI have agreed to jointly develop physical AI-based intelligence technology for robots deployed at industrial sites.

Posco DX said Sunday it signed an MOU with NC AI to build an AI-driven autonomous robot operating system. The signing ceremony was held May 29 at NC AI's headquarters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, with Yoon Seok-jun, head of Posco DX's Robot Automation Center, and Kim Min-jae, CTO of NC AI, attending alongside officials from both companies.

The two companies plan to develop a robot foundation model combining Posco DX's robot simulation and control technology with NC AI's AI models.

Under the arrangement, Posco DX will handle motion planning and control simulation verification for robots intended for industrial deployment, and will provide a digital twin-based virtual testing environment to ensure stable robot operation. NC AI will lead AI model development for the robot foundation model — collecting and analyzing industrial site data to help robots understand task conditions and building a vision-language-action (VLA) model on that basis. NC AI will also work with Posco DX to construct and stabilize a digital twin-based VLA simulation environment.

The two companies expect the collaboration to enable industrial robots to process visual information and verbal instructions at the same time, allowing them to interpret task conditions on their own. The goal is to develop intelligence technology that helps robots respond to frequent environmental changes on factory floors — such as variations in workpiece positioning and interface differences between equipment — and handle unstructured tasks. The companies also plan to build a cooperative framework with other industrial robots at manufacturing sites to improve both safety and efficiency.

Posco DX said its Robot Automation Center continues to advance industrial robot automation technology, with ongoing work on simulation-based verification, standardized model development, and a heterogeneous robot operating platform.

"Through sustained collaboration with companies that hold specialized expertise, we are internalizing core solutions such as robot control and operating platforms while raising the level of automation technology at high-risk, high-intensity sites," Yoon said. "We expect this partnership to confirm the potential of general-purpose robots in industrial settings."

Kim Min-jae, CTO of NC AI, said general-purpose robot technology is rapidly evolving into a next-generation AI technology applicable across diverse industrial environments. "Through our collaboration with Posco DX, we will strengthen our competitiveness in robot AI technology and lead the general-purpose physical AI ecosystem targeting the global market," he said.