The RLWRLD team is made up AI researchers, roboticists, product engineers, business strategists, operators, and more. | Source: RLWRLD
RLWRLD Inc., a physical AI startup building robotics foundation models, this week said it has raised $15 million in its seed round. The company said its foundation models learn from real-world sensor data, robotic systems, and industrial workflows, unlike other generative AI models that rely on text, code, and images.
“Silicon Valley is building brains for the Internet. We’re building brains for machines,” stated Jung-hee Ryu, the founder and CEO of RLWRLD.
Intel Corp. acquired Jung-hee Ryu’s previous company, Olaworks, in its first-ever acquisition of a Korean startup. RLWRLD’s founding team includes KAIST Chair Professor Jinwoo Shin, the former chief technology officer of Kurly, a Kakao engineering lead, and a former BCG partner.
The startup, which has offices in Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo, said its models enable robots to reason and act autonomously in dynamic physical environments. These include factories, warehouses, logistics hubs, and beyond.
RLWRLD builds platform on three pillars
RLWRLD said its platform is built on three strategic pillars:
- Embodied model architecture optimized for real-world intelligence
- Industrial-scale data pipelines from East Asia’s manufacturing ecosystem
- Plug-and-play infrastructure that integrates seamlessly with existing robotics systems
“We’re not just writing papers—we’re training models that solve real-world problems on real production floors,” said Jinwoo Shin, chief scientist at RLWRLD and KAIST chair professor.
The company is also building a multi-stakeholder innovation ecosystem through collaborations with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST), Seoul National University, and POSTECH. In addition, RLWLRLD is working with robotics manufacturers such as WIRobotics, Rainbow Robotics, Wonik Robotics, and Robotis.
Investment to enable more data, integration
The round includes investments from LG Electronics, SK Telecom, KDDI, ANA Holdings, Mitsui Chemicals, and Shimadzu Corporation. It also included leading AI-focused VCs from Japan and Korea, like Hashed, Mirae Asset, and Global Brain.
“RLWRLD combines deep AI research with industrial execution at scale,” said Simon Seojoon Kim, CEO of Hashed. “That’s what makes this a rare, high-conviction investment.”
RLWRLD said the seed funding will accelerate its next phase of growth. It plans to expand its proprietary data pipelines across its industrial partner sites and advance its robotics foundation model stack. The company also said it hopes to deepen integration with robotics and sensor companies in Asia and North America.
Learn about the latest AI innovations at the Robotics Summit
Recent advances in artificial intelligence will be a hot topic at this year’s Robotics Summit & Expo, which will be on April 30 and May 1 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. AI-focused talks at the show will include:
- Welcome to the Era of Physical Intelligence: Daniela Rus, the director of MIT CSAIL, will be giving this keynote presentation. She will explore the challenges of transformer-based foundation AI models. Rus will also introduce alternative physics-based models and explain how they achieve performance efficiently.
- Making Autonomous Bipedals Stable and Safe: Tackling the Safety and Real-world Interfacing Challenges of Physical AI: Nikolai Ensslen, the CEO of Synapticon, will discuss approaches for the safety of bipedal and AI-controlled robots and explore how hybrid control architectures—combining AI-driven intelligence with deterministic, safety-certified motion control—are the key to unlocking humanoid automation.
- Risk is Different with AI: Strategies for Resilient Robots: SK Gupta, the co-founder and chief scientist at GrayMatter Robotics, will present strategies for ensuring compliance with emerging regulations around AI. He’ll also explain how to prevent unintended consequences that could harm both businesses and the environment.
- Advancing Robot Learning with Force Sensing & Physical Intelligence: In this talk, Klajd Lika, the founder and CEO of Bota Systems, will explore effective methods for equipping robots with force sensing and capturing high-quality data to advance robotic learning and adaptability.
- Generative AI’s Impact on Robotics: This panel will discuss the applications of large language models (LLMs) and text generation applications to robotics. It features Xavier Chi, the co-founder at mbodi AI; Ted Larson, the CEO of OLogic; Rajat Bhageria, the founder and CEO of Chef Robotics; Karthee Madasamy, the founder and managing partner at MFV Partners; and Eugene Demaitre, the editorial director of The Robot Report.
The show will have more than 50 educational sessions in tracks on AI, design and development, enabling technologies, healthcare, and logistics. The Engineering Theater on the show floor will also feature presentations by industry experts.
The Robotics Summit also offers numerous networking opportunities, a Career Fair, a robotics development challenge, the RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards Gala, and more.
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