AngelRobotics (455900) has been selected as the lead organization for a "Brain-to-Robot" bidirectional integration development project, the company said Monday. The project will run for seven years from 2026 to 2032, with a total of 30 billion won in funding.
AngelRobotics' exoskeleton robot technology has already won global recognition. The company won a gold medal at the 2024 Cybathlon competition in Zurich, Switzerland, performing three times as many tasks as competing teams. It has also achieved Class 3 medical device approval, insurance reimbursement coverage, and overseas exports.
The core of this project is the commercialization of a full-body wearable exoskeleton robot, a "wearable humanoid" that allows people with quadriplegia to move freely, and a "bidirectional cortical implant electrode" inserted into the cerebral cortex to read and inject signals at high resolution. The two technologies will be pursued for commercialization independently, but are expected to eventually be completed as an integrated system. If commercialization succeeds, people with quadriplegia will be able to stand up, walk, pick up objects, and feel sensations at their fingertips on their own.
The consortium includes AngelRobotics along with DGIST, Enside, KAIST, Seoul National University Hospital, Severance Hospital, Samsung Medical Center, Pusan National University Hospital, the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, and the Korea Testing Laboratory.
Development will proceed in three stages. In the first stage (2026-2027), the consortium will secure core elements of the high-density cortical implant electrode and an exoskeleton robot dedicated to bidirectional brain-to-robot integration. In the second stage (2028-2029), it will pursue hardware and software integration and initial human clinical trials. In the third stage (2030-2032), it will pursue approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and commercialization of a "combination medical device" that integrates a brain-neural interface, encoding and decoding AI, and a powered exoskeleton robot through ultra-low-latency communication.
Kong Kyoung-chul, AngelRobotics' chief technology officer (CTO) and the consortium's general director, stressed, "Reading the intention to act from the brain to control a robot, and returning the robot's sensations to the person, is an essential technology for overcoming severe disabilities."
