SisonAI Accelerates NongHyup APC AX and Robot Automation, Establishes Five-Party Partnership with Hanwha Robotics and Others

Vision AI specialist company SisonAI has joined forces with major companies to accelerate AI transformation (AX) and expand robot automation projects at the NongHyup Agricultural Products Processing Centers (APC). On the 14th, SisonAI announced that it had signed a five-party business agreement with its subsidiary UON Robotics, NongHyup Information System, Hanwha Robotics, and Modeun Solution to pursue joint business initiatives.

Through this agreement, the participating companies plan to combine AI-based sorting and analysis technologies with robotic automation capabilities to build a next-generation smart agricultural distribution environment and expand it to domestic and overseas markets. The core focus is on implementing a Physical AI system that connects 'cognition-action-control·interaction,' leveraging the specialized technologies of SisonAI, Hanwha Robotics, and UON Robotics.

SisonAI will be responsible for the 'cognition' role, utilizing its vision AI technology that precisely identifies unstructured agricultural products. This provides the key algorithms that enable robots to understand on-site environments through data. Hanwha Robotics will take charge of the 'action' domain, supplying robot hardware that translates AI commands into real-world physical actions, and supporting customized integrated operations on site.

UON Robotics will handle 'control and interaction,' linking cognition and action. Through automation engineering optimized for the APC environment, it ensures that SisonAI's software and Hanwha Robotics' hardware work together seamlessly on the ground.

A company representative stated, "This collaboration focuses on organically combining each company's technologies to implement a fully functional Physical AI system that operates in real-world settings," adding, "It will serve as a catalyst to significantly advance the level of automation across the agricultural distribution sector."

NongHyup Information System will act as the control tower for the overall project, overseeing system integration (SI) such as building the AI APC platform and linking it with NongHyup's infrastructure. Modeun Solution will be responsible for operating the AX platform and integrating process automation software to ensure system stability.

Currently, there are about 560 APCs nationwide, with NongHyup operating roughly 400 of them. The remaining 160 are managed with support from organizations such as the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT). The government has previously set a goal of establishing 100 smart APCs by 2027 to advance agricultural product distribution.

Ki Yoon Do, CEO of NongHyup Information System, stated, "As the control tower in building the NongHyup APC AX innovation ecosystem, we will take the lead in platform and system integration," adding, "We will establish a smart agricultural distribution system through expansion to APCs nationwide."

Unseong Nam, CEO of SisonAI, remarked, "This agreement is a strategic starting point for securing leadership in the smart agricultural distribution market, going beyond mere technological collaboration." He added, "If AI and robot automation are gradually introduced to more than 500 APCs nationwide, a new market worth approximately 1.5 trillion won is expected to be created." He continued, "We also plan to actively pursue overseas market entry in regions such as Southeast Asia and Central Asia."

The market outlook is also positive. According to market research firm Ken Research, the domestic smart agriculture market is valued at approximately $440 million (about 650 billion won) in 2024, and is expected to continue growing due to labor shortages and increased government support. Research Nester forecasts that the global market will grow at an average annual rate of 11.8%, from $22.4 billion (about 3.3 trillion won) this year to $61.78 billion (about 9.1 trillion won) by 2035.

Meanwhile, the five companies plan to use this agreement as a foundation to expand collaboration in new smart agriculture business areas, such as agricultural product-specialized autonomous mobile robots (AMR) and mobile manipulators.

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