This is based on Seoul Economic Daily, citing South Korea’s industry ministry. TSN also found the ministry’s own Korean-language release, which matches the main facts.
South Korea will let 20 humanoid robots work on real production lines next to human workers, as a test [1].
The industry ministry (MOTIE) said on 13 October 2026 that a government review committee had granted a “regulatory exemption for live testing” to Robros, a Korean company that builds two-legged humanoid robots [1][2].
What the robots will do
The 20 AI-powered robots will go to four companies, each in a different industry [1][3]:
- Nepes (chips): removing contaminants from circular parts used in back-end chip packaging.
- Sungwoo Hitech (cars): placing car body parts in set positions.
- HD Hyundai Samho (shipbuilding): stacking scaffolding brackets, the parts that fix raised work platforms to a ship’s hull.
- Delivery Lab (logistics): moving refrigerated packaging.
The robots will move through spaces “shared with or adjacent to human workers”, recognising objects, then picking them up, carrying and stacking them [1].
Why it needed an exemption
A “regulatory sandbox” lets a company test something that existing rules would not normally allow, under conditions.
Korea’s safety rules for industrial robots assume the robot stays in one place. They require safety fences to keep people out of the robot’s work area [1][3]. That does not work for a robot that walks around next to people.
So the government has allowed the test only if the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s risk assessment and safety measures are carried out [3]. The government says it will use data from the tests to rewrite safety standards [1].
What the minister said
“AI technology is advancing so fast that regulation struggles to keep up,” Trade Minister Kim Jung-kwan said. “We need to quickly remove the institutional bottlenecks that keep companies from applying new technology on industrial sites” [1]. (This is Seoul Economic Daily’s translation from Korean.)
What this means
- It is a test, not a rollout. The exemption covers one project with 20 robots at four sites.
- People and robots will share space. That is what the old fence rules did not allow.
- Safety rules may change. The government says the results will feed into new standards.
- No results yet. No source gave a start date, how long the tests will run, or any safety or productivity figures.
Sources
- Seoul Economic Daily, “Korea Clears First 20 Humanoid Robots for Factory Floors”, 13 October 2026. https://en.sedaily.com/finance/2026/10/13/korea-clears-first-factory-test-of-20-humanoid-robots
- Ministry of Trade and Industry (Korea), press release (Korean), 13 October 2026. https://www.motir.go.kr/kor/article/ATCL3f49a5a8c/172285/view
- Yonhap News Agency (Korean), 13 October 2026. https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20261013140800003
