ETRI Begins Development of "Next-Generation Humanoid Brain"

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute of Korea (hereafter ETRI) announced on September 25 that it has begun developing the "next-generation humanoid brain."

Director Seungchan Bang is conversing with the social humanoid robot 'Sonoid'. Provided by Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute of Korea

Previously, through its "Top Challenge Project," ETRI secured technologies such as multimodal speech recognition that enables stable conversations even in noisy environments, empathetic dialogues reflecting the user's emotions and situations, the generation of nonverbal behaviors including gaze, gestures, and body language, as well as battery technology based on all-solid-state batteries.

In June, ETRI drew attention by unveiling the social humanoid "Sonoid" for the first time at the "ETRI Conference 2025," applying the technologies it had developed.

Building on this foundation, ETRI plans to develop practical robots that go beyond simply executing commands and are capable of responding to situations and interacting with humans.

Since May, ETRI has been collaborating with the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials on the "Autonomous Growth Artificial Intelligence (AI) Humanoid Strategic Research Group," one of the global TOP strategic research initiatives led by the Ministry of Science and ICT. To focus on research in the humanoid field, ETRI has also established the "Humanoid Robot System Research Group."

Seungchan Bang, Director of ETRI, stated, "Based on the achievements we have made in AI and robotics, we aim to develop a humanoid brain at a global top-tier level. Through this, ETRI will lead research on humanoids that coexist and grow alongside humans."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.