Lotte Innovate is strengthening collaboration on physical AI with other Lotte Group affiliates. The initiative aims to test the field applicability of physical AI technologies under development at Lotte Innovate by integrating them into each affiliate's core businesses and services. As the physical AI market rapidly expands on the back of advancing AI technology, competition among companies to secure early market share is expected to intensify.
According to industry sources on Thursday, Lotte Innovate plans to launch joint physical AI research based on field demand within the Lotte Group in June. The primary partners are Lotte Global Logistics and Lotte World.
With Lotte Global Logistics, the companies are considering ways to deploy humanoid robots in logistics environments. Robots could replace human workers in tasks such as placing items into boxes or moving heavy boxes. With Lotte World, a humanoid robot dance performance is being considered.
At the core of these projects is "Aimember," an artificial intelligence (AI) platform developed by Lotte Innovate. Aimember is an AI platform specialized for enterprise operations, offering features such as generative AI models, task automation, and AI agents. In January, Lotte Innovate announced plans to expand into the physical AI business by integrating Aimember with humanoid robots. Various AI engines developed and accumulated through Aimember — including large language models (LLM), vision, speech-to-text (STT), and text-to-speech (TTS) — serve as the "brain" of the robots.
Earlier in February, Lotte Innovate unveiled "Roi," a humanoid robot linked to Aimember, at convenience store chain 7-Eleven. The move is seen as an effort to expand joint research with other group affiliates and actively verify whether AI-integrated robots perform properly in the field. "This is the first time Lotte Innovate and Lotte Global Logistics are jointly pursuing physical AI research," a Lotte Innovate official said. "The specific timing and details are still under discussion."
Industry observers note that systems integration (SI) firms have recently been aggressively expanding their physical AI businesses. A prominent example is LG CNS, which recently unveiled "Physical Works," a platform that integrates the entire process of industrial robot training and operation. The platform is notable for its ability to control and monitor robots from different manufacturers in an integrated manner. Samsung SDS plans to pursue mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of physical AI companies and others using funds secured through its partnership with KKR. The company has cited physical AI, along with stablecoins, as a new business focus for this year.
The physical AI market is indeed growing rapidly. According to Grand View Research, the global physical AI market is projected to grow from $81.6 billion last year to $960.3 billion by 2033. The compound annual growth rate from this year through 2033 reaches 36%. "Physical AI has risen rapidly as AI models advance and various technologies such as semiconductors, sensors, and simulation support them," an industry official said. "Securing industry-specific field data and workers' expertise will become even more important going forward."
