GIST and SOS Lab Sign MOU for Mobile Robot Service Operation

System to Be Deployed on Mobile Robots for Demonstration at GIST Campus
"A Milestone for the Physical AI Era and a Major Contribution to the Robotics Industry"

Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) announced on April 14 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with SOS Lab Co., Ltd., a leading company specializing in lidar sensors—a core field of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including autonomous driving, robotics, and smart cities—for the operation and technological demonstration of mobile robot services. Through this agreement, SOS Lab plans to integrate its proprietary technological competitiveness in lidar hardware with GIST's research environment and infrastructure, aiming to broaden and advance the scope of its technology applications.

(From left) GIST President Ki-Chul Im and SOS Lab CEO Jisung Jung are posing for a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement. Courtesy of GIST

The signing ceremony, held on April 13 in the main conference room of the GIST Administration Building, was attended by Lim Ki-chul, President of GIST; Jeong Seong-ho, Vice President for Academic Affairs; Lee Eun-ji, Director of External Cooperation; and, from SOS Lab, CEO Jung Ji-sung, Director Jeong Jong-gyu, Principal Researcher Kang Seong-mo, and Senior Researcher Park Seung-jae, along with other representatives from both organizations.

Under the agreement, GIST will support the operation and technological demonstration of SOS Lab's mobile robot services by providing space and resources for storage and passage of robots, as well as facilitating communication and minimizing regulations necessary for the operation and demonstration of robot services. SOS Lab, in turn, will be responsible for managing the routes of robots within pre-designated sections and times, ensuring vehicle and pedestrian safety by adhering to GIST regulations and the Personal Information Protection Act, establishing an on-site management system based on continuous monitoring, and reviewing cooperation and joint research proposals related to robot services as suggested by GIST.

This agreement is especially significant as it demonstrates a virtuous cycle in which a prominent GIST alumni-founded company, which successfully went public on KOSDAQ, advances its technological sophistication through collaboration with its alma mater. CEO Jung Ji-sung founded SOS Lab in 2016 while pursuing a Ph.D. in the Department of Mechanical Engineering (now the Department of Mechanical Robotics Engineering) at GIST, together with fellow researchers. The company is regarded as a leading example of university-based entrepreneurship, having achieved KOSDAQ listing through continuous technology development and commercialization.

SOS Lab has established itself as a key component supplier for autonomous vehicles and smart cities by developing world-class, compact, and high-precision lidar sensors. In particular, the company's technological expertise—delivering both high performance and price competitiveness—has earned recognition in the global market.

Currently, SOS Lab is accelerating the development of "SPADI," a spatial intelligence platform that combines lidar ("eyes") with artificial intelligence (AI, "brain") to enable robots to see, think, and make decisions autonomously. Through this agreement, the company plans to equip mobile robots with this system and conduct demonstrations on the GIST campus.

This collaboration goes beyond simple academia-industry cooperation, serving as a model for a positive feedback loop in which technology developed at a university grows in the industrial field and then returns to the research setting for further validation and expansion.

SPADI is a comprehensive spatial intelligence pipeline that reconstructs 3D spaces, interprets their meaning, and enables autonomous reasoning and decision-making, all by integrating multimodal sensors with AI. Its core differentiator is the integration of multi-agent-based "autonomous reasoning," moving beyond basic 3D scanning or perception.

CEO Jung Ji-sung stated, "We are taking on the challenge of completing the 'brain' of robots by combining the 'eyes' of lidar with the intelligence of AI. I am delighted to validate our technology in the optimal research environment provided by GIST, and I hope this agreement will become a major milestone in ushering in the era of physical AI."

President Lim Ki-chul remarked, "I hope the GIST campus will become a demonstration stage for advanced robot technology, presenting a new model for industry-academia cooperation. The innovative spatial intelligence technology of SOS Lab, combined with GIST's research capabilities, will make a significant contribution to the advancement of the robotics industry."

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