Doosan Enerbility

Doosan Robotics said in a press release on Oct 6 that two projects it proposed to programmes run by the trade ministry (MOTIR) and the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology have been selected, with total R&D budgets of about KRW 98.9 billion, of which about KRW 68.1 billion is government funding. The first, a 54-month project, puts a Korean AI system-on-chip with an NPU and real-time control into three cobots with 5, 10 and 20 kg payloads and a two-armed, omnidirectional industrial humanoid, targeting 72-hour non-stop trials at two or more sites, international safety certification and standard products from 2031; partners include AIDIN Robotics, Mobilint, KETI and KITECH. The second, a 45-month project with DEEPX as a co-researcher and Doosan Enerbility as the user, aims to automate nuclear-component welding with paths that match skilled welders at least 95% of the time within plus or minus 3 mm and to cut multi-layer welding time by more than half. The award followed Doosan Robotics' Oct 1 announcement naming Kwon Young-min, head of Doosan Bobcat subsidiary Doosan Mottrol since 2021, as chief executive; DEEPX's edge NPU was also on MEKAWIRE today.

Doosan Robotics and Doosan Enerbility terminated on 10 December 2024 the split-merger that would have made Doosan Bobcat a subsidiary of the cobot maker, two days before shareholder votes. The companies said a sharp fall in their share prices had widened the gap with appraisal prices and made closing uncertain. The move ended a five-month restructuring that had already lost its Bobcat share swap in August.