Daedong Gear partners with China's EYOU to target domestic mass production by 2029

Daedong Gear, an affiliate of Daedong Group, is expanding into the robot components business through a partnership with a Chinese specialist in robotic joint parts. The company plans to gain joint development and manufacturing experience in China before establishing a domestic mass production system starting in 2029.

Daedong Gear and Daedong Robotics announced Thursday that they will build a cooperative framework with EYOU Robotics Technology, a Chinese firm specializing in robot actuators, for the joint development and commercialization of key robot components.

Daedong Gear and EYOU plan to establish a joint venture in China by January 2027 to develop robot actuators and carry out pilot production locally. After building up manufacturing and quality control capabilities through the venture, Daedong Gear will take over domestic mass production starting in 2029.

An actuator is a core drive component that moves robot joints by combining a motor, reducer and control unit. It generates the force and motion needed for a robot to move its arms and legs or lift objects, functioning much like human muscles and joints.

Earlier, Daedong Gear and Daedong Robotics each signed MOUs with EYOU in Shanghai covering joint actuator development and commercialization, as well as technology cooperation for agricultural robots. The three companies have been jointly developing actuators since early this year, and with this latest agreement they will expand their collaboration to cover production, supply and field testing of agricultural robots.

The joint venture plans to build facilities in China capable of producing 30,000 sets per year. The partners will jointly develop both planetary-reducer-type and harmonic-reducer-type actuators, and will also secure technology for integrating motors, reducers and sensors.

Product development and production will proceed in stages. The first-generation actuator line is set to launch in the first half of 2027 and will be produced at the Chinese joint venture through 2028 for use in Daedong's agricultural robots. The partners also plan to supply the components to outside customers.

From 2029, Daedong Gear will begin domestic mass production and take charge of manufacturing and supply within South Korea, while the Chinese joint venture handles local production and sales — a dual-track structure the companies intend to establish.

Daedong Robotics plans to unveil Agroide, an agricultural humanoid robot incorporating the jointly developed actuators, in the first half of 2027. The robot will then undergo field testing at Daedong's Taean Farm to verify its ability to perform farming tasks and to assess the performance and durability of the components.

Parallel field tests will also be conducted on farms in China to confirm whether the robot can handle a variety of crops and working conditions. The results will feed back into improvements to both the actuators and the robot's design.

The partnership is significant in that Daedong Gear — which has built up expertise in manufacturing gears and precision parts for agricultural machinery — is now extending its business into robot drive components. The strategy is to acquire technology and mass production experience through joint development and manufacturing with a Chinese partner, then channel that into a domestic production system, positioning robot components as a new growth engine.

"This joint venture will serve as the foundation for Daedong Gear to secure not only joint development of robot actuators but also production and commercialization capabilities," Daedong Gear CEO Seo Jong-hwan said. "We will rapidly build up manufacturing and quality competitiveness in China and translate that into domestic mass production, growing into a global robot drive components company."