Gyeonggi launches physical-AI push: 66-member council, KRW 3.08bn Siheung center
Gyeonggi Province said in a press release on Oct 28 that it has declared a "physical AI transformation" and launched a council of 66 companies, universities, institutes and local governments, including Doosan Robotics, Rainbow Robotics and Robotis.
The province is spending KRW 3.08 billion of its own budget from March 2026 to March 2027 on a physical-AI diffusion center in Siheung, consulting, factory trials and training; nine manufacturers in Seongnam's industrial complex have finished consulting and three of their processes are in trials.
Firefighting and disaster trials and care-robot tests are to start in 2027, with daily-care use such as fall prevention for older and disabled residents from 2029. MEKAWIRE context: the plan lands on the same day the national government briefed makers on putting about 1,700 robots into public agencies in 2027 (see our public rollout story); Gyeonggi's budget is small by comparison and aimed at SME factory processes rather than procurement.
Gyeonggi Province said in a press release on Oct 28 that Governor Choo Mi-ae declared a "physical AI transformation" at Seoul National University's Siheung campus, under the slogan of a safer Gyeonggi built with physical AI. About 200 people attended, according to the province.
The province launched a Gyeonggi Physical AI Council of 66 organisations. Members named in the release include Doosan Robotics, Rainbow Robotics and Robotis, Seoul National University, Tech University of Korea, the Korea Electronics Technology Institute, and the Seongnam and Siheung city governments. It will work through sub-groups by manufacturing process: cutting, forming, precision machining, assembly and inspection, and materials logistics.
The money is modest. From March 2026 to March 2027 the province is putting KRW 3.08 billion of provincial funds into a Physical AI Diffusion Center under construction in Siheung, adoption consulting, process trials and training. Nine manufacturers in the Seongnam industrial complex have completed consulting this year and three processes are being tested. Firefighting and disaster trials and care-robot testing start in 2027, and daily-care uses such as fall prevention and living support for older and disabled residents follow from 2029.
At the event Rainbow Robotics showed a robot sorting flowers by colour, and the Hwaseong fire station presented its FIRO unmanned firefighting robot, which the province says can identify targets up to 17 m away in 85%-density smoke.
MEKAWIRE context: the declaration came on the same day the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources briefed makers on deploying about 1,700 robots across public agencies in 2027 (our story). The two plans differ in kind: the national one is a procurement pipeline for robot makers, while Gyeonggi's KRW 3.08 billion buys consulting and trials for small factories, so its first measurable output will be how many of the three Seongnam trials turn into paid deployments.