The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) unveiled a mid- to long-term strategy to respond to the era of physical artificial intelligence (AI).

ETRI held a 50th anniversary forum on May 28 at EL House Hall at the EL Tower in Yangjae, Seoul. The forum was held under the theme, "AI's ultimate weapon, the path to physical AI."

Physical AI refers to next-generation AI technology that combines with real physical environments such as robots, autonomous driving, smart factories and digital manufacturing to make decisions and act on its own. In global markets, competition in robot intelligence is intensifying around robot foundation models (RFM). In line with this trend, ETRI selected "robot intelligence" as a key focus area for its AI robot strategy and will strengthen related research.

The forum followed a welcoming address by ETRI President Se-woong Park (박세웅) and congratulatory remarks by Do-gyu Lee (이도규), director general for ICT Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT. Industry, academia and research experts then presented on the direction of physical AI technology development and the industry outlook.

Seung-hwan Kim (김승환), executive director and head of the Expert AI Group at LG AI Research, introduced global industrial changes and corporate strategic directions under the theme, "The era of physical AI, the industrial field and our direction." Jong-woo Park (박종우), a professor at Seoul National University, and Myung-joo Kim (김명주), head of the ETRI AI Safety Research Laboratory, presented on "The great industrial transformation led by physical AI" and "AI robot ethics," respectively.

Won-pil Yoo (유원필), head of the ETRI Creative AI Research Institute, unveiled ETRI's mid- to long-term AI robot strategy for the first time in a presentation titled, "The path to physical AI - ways to strengthen AI robot competitiveness and ETRI's role." Yoo presented key strategies including securing flexible robot intelligence based on Meta RFM, building an autonomous-growth AI robot ecosystem, and building and using sovereign robot data.

He also stressed the need to establish an "ETRI AI Robot Charter" that places safety, rights and control as top values to build an autonomous-growth AI robot ecosystem. He also proposed a standardisation plan for an intelligence system that expresses AI robot intelligence levels from Level 1 to Level 5.

A panel discussion then took place under the theme, "Global top strategy for physical AI and ETRI's role." ETRI plans to use the forum as a starting point to foster a next-generation AI industry ecosystem that converges AI with robots, networks and computing. It also plans to strengthen an industry-academia-research-government cooperation system centered on government-funded research institutes to secure global-level competitiveness in AI robot technology.

ETRI President Park said the forum was a venue to prepare for the era of physical AI that goes beyond generative AI and combines with the physical world, including robots and autonomous driving. He said ETRI would play a key role, together with industry, academia, research and government, to help South Korea leap into a global AI powerhouse as it marks its 50th anniversary.

ETRI, marking its 50th anniversary this year, is expanding activities to present its future ICT and AI technology vision and spread science and technology under the slogan, "ETRI 50 years, a challenge toward infinity."