SKPack, a subsidiary of NamuAX (formerly Namu Technology), said on Wednesday it has been selected as the lead research and development organisation for an international joint R&D project on physical AI-based autonomous manufacturing promoted by the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The project will receive 10 billion won in government funding over about five years. Participants include SKPack, Sejong University, the University of Toronto in Canada, CUUVA and a major South Korean food company, among industry, academia and research organisations at home and abroad.

The joint research team will develop multi-agent AI-based autonomous manufacturing technology in which AI identifies workers, equipment and process conditions on the factory floor, plans tasks and carries out robot control and safety responses.

As the lead organisation, SKPack will be responsible for developing integrated operation and control technology for multiple, heterogeneous robots. It plans to advance technology that integrates and operates different robots based on AI, including collaborative robots and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs).

The researchers will first verify work and control processes in a virtual environment and then apply them in stages to production sites at food companies. After verifying stability and business viability through long-term operation, they plan to expand the scope of application to other manufacturing industries, including electronics, batteries and automobiles.

SKPack will pursue commercialisation by developing the research results into an AI factory solution and operations software that can be applied in real production environments.

Separately from the project, parent NamuAX plans to enter a physical AI data centre business linked to AI factories at manufacturing sites. It aims to supply graphics processing units (GPUs) for robot training, a simulation-based synthetic data generation environment and middleware that integrates and manages them.

A SKPack official said, "This project is meaningful in that it secures autonomous manufacturing technology that goes beyond automation centred on individual robots or facilities and integrates the operation of people and multiple, heterogeneous robots based on multi-agent AI." The official added, "We will verify stability and business viability at actual production sites and expand the scope of application, starting with food and extending to diverse manufacturing industries such as electronics, batteries and automobiles."