ROAI signs Tokyo Boeki MOU to test its robot-planning AI in Japanese factories
ROAI, a Hyundai Motor spin-off that plans factory robot paths with AI, signed an MOU with Japan's Tokyo Boeki Group on Oct 19 to run demonstrations and proof-of-concept work with Japanese manufacturers, the company said via Wowtale. Tokyo Boeki runs sales and PoCs; ROAI supplies evaluation licences.
ROAI, a Seoul factory-AI startup spun out of Hyundai Motor's in-house venture programme, said on Oct 19 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan's Tokyo Boeki Group to test its robot-planning software in Japanese plants, according to the company's statement as carried by the startup outlet Wowtale. Neither side gave a contract value, and the MOU commits the partners to joint verification rather than sales. Tokyo Boeki's own news page had not posted the agreement when MEKAWIRE checked on Oct 19.
Under the agreement, Tokyo Boeki, a trading group with businesses in energy, machinery, materials and manufacturing, will use its customer network to find Japanese manufacturers, and will plan and run demonstrations and proof-of-concept (PoC) projects. ROAI will supply its core solution under evaluation licences and give technical support. The two sides said they will check market fit, technical fit and interoperability before any longer partnership.
What ROAI sells: the planning step most robot cells still do by hand
ROAI's product, called Xelo in an Oct 14 Dealsite report, decides which robot can do which task, allocates the work and plans collision-free paths, then checks the result in simulation before it goes to the line. The company says it can generate robot paths and motions from design data alone, and that it has cut preparation time and labour in welding and inspection lines at Hyundai Motor, Kia and GM. Dealsite quoted a cycle-time reduction of more than 20%; MEKAWIRE has not seen customer data for that figure.
Chief executive Hong Seok-ui started the team inside Hyundai Motor's manufacturing solutions division, and ROAI was spun off in early 2025, Dealsite reported. The same report put cumulative funding at KRW 14.4 billion: a KRW 1.4 billion seed in 2025 and a KRW 13 billion Series A closed in April, co-led by KB Investment and LB Investment with Doosan Investment as a strategic investor. None of these rounds has a regulatory filing, so MEKAWIRE lists them as reported.
- 2025
- Seed
- KRW 1.4bn
- Not named in report
- Apr 2026
- Series A
- KRW 13bn
- KB Investment, LB Investment (co-leads); Doosan Investment (strategic)
- Total
- No data
- KRW 14.4bn
- No data
Reported by Dealsite (Oct 14, 2026); no filing or company page confirms these figures. Series A / seed = 13 / 1.4 = 9.3x; Series A share = 13 / 14.4 = 90%.
As of Oct 19, 2026
MEKAWIRE analysis
Japan is a test of whether software trained on Hyundai's lines travels to plants that ROAI did not grow up in.
The Series A is 9.3 times the seed and 90% of everything ROAI has raised, so the company is spending its first institutional money on going abroad: Dealsite also reported that it is courting US investors. A trading house that runs the PoCs lowers ROAI's cost of entry, but it also puts a middleman between the startup and the plant engineers whose data it needs. The counter-case is that robot makers such as Fanuc and Yaskawa sell their own offline programming tools, and an outside planner has to beat those inside an existing workflow. Watch for a named Japanese PoC customer, a Tokyo Boeki announcement of its own, and ROAI's first overseas round.
- MOU with Tokyo Boeki Group, Oct 19, 2026
- Tokyo Boeki: customers and PoC operation; ROAI: evaluation licences and support
- Joint verification, demos and PoCs in Japan; no sales contract
- Company statement via outlets; no Tokyo Boeki release yet
- Xelo AI robot-path and cell planning software
- Hyundai Motor, Kia (lines); GM (technical verification)
- KRW 14.4bn total; KRW 13bn Series A, Apr 2026