"We have unveiled a water purification robot using Rebellions' neural processing unit (NPU), and it is producing results in the Middle East. Officials from oil-producing nations in the Middle East are even visiting Korea to see our technology," said Chae In-won, CEO of Ecopeace.
Chae disclosed the outstanding demonstration achievements using domestic AI chips at the "K-AI Semiconductor Growth Forum," hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) at the Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul, on Wednesday.
Ecopeace is an eco-friendly startup aiming to become a global company in the field of AI-based smart water resource management. The water purification robot developed by the company was designed to operate solely on renewable energy, requiring low-power operation. To this end, Ecopeace adopted Rebellions' low-power, high-efficiency NPU, ATOM™-Max. NPUs have the advantage of higher power efficiency (performance per power) compared to graphics processing units (GPUs).
"The robot moves based on data inferred from Rebellions' NPU server," Chae explained. "When the data computed on the server is transmitted as a command, the robot autonomously navigates the water, detecting and removing various pollutants such as oil, trash, and algae blooms." He added, "It also has the ability to accurately recognize obstacles through high-performance vision AI and perform avoidance navigation."
Ecopeace's overseas expansion was achieved by leveraging the "Overseas Demonstration Project for Domestic AI Chips," supervised by MSIT and executed by the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA). Ecopeace achieved the result of developing a real-time water pollutant detection and autonomous purification water quality management monitoring platform in cooperation with a local energy company in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). "Although the demonstration schedule was delayed due to the war in the Middle East, officials from various oil-producing nations in the Middle East who took note of the demonstration achievements are visiting Korea to directly verify Ecopeace's technology," Chae said.
Lee Kang-yong, director of the Information and Communications Broadcasting Technology Policy Division at MSIT, presented the government's direction for AI chip support at the forum across four pillars: R&D support, commercialization support, demonstration support, and funding support. "The government has provided comprehensive support for design software and prototype production, achieving the practical effect of reducing each company's productization costs by an average of 1.2 billion to 1.65 billion won and shortening development periods by up to 19 months," he announced. MSIT plans to open the K-AI Semiconductor Technology Support Center within the first half of the year to support everything from consultation on adopting domestic AI chips to design, configuration, and software maintenance, in order to facilitate the smooth spread of domestic AI chips into the private sector. It also plans to launch demonstration support that links the K-AI full stack—including AI chips and hardware such as servers, software, and AI services—with actual market demand.
Bae Kyung-hoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, stressed, "Domestic AI chips are a key foundation for realizing the national agenda of leaping into the top three AI powers (G3) and completing independent AI." He added, "The government will firmly serve as a catalyst so that we can go beyond full-scale mass production and commercialization to produce tangible business results."
