Research
KIST KAPEX humanoid heads toward LG commercialization after science award
Short answer: South Korea’s KIST developed the KAPEX AI humanoid with more than 90% locally made core components and transferred core technology to LG Electronics, while group head Lee Jong-won received the November Korea Science and Technology Award for the work, Seoul Economic Daily reported on 4 November 2026.
What KAPEX is claimed to do
Seoul Economic Daily describes KAPEX as a bipedal platform that can walk while carrying loads of more than 20 kilograms, adjust grip strength through fingertip sensors, and combine domestically developed actuators, joints, sensors and control AI. Actuators are said to generate up to 300 newton metres of torque in a package sized for a human joint. Those performance figures are KIST’s claims as reported by the paper, not independent lab verification here.
Lee, head of the Humanoid Research Group at KIST’s AI and Robot Institute, was named November recipient of the Korea Science and Technology Award by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation for localising and commercialising those core parts.
LG partnership path
SED says KIST transferred KAPEX core technology to LG Electronics in September 2025. The reported partnership splits roles: LG Electronics on the robot platform, LG AI Research on physical AI, LG Energy Solution on all-solid-state batteries, and Robostar on mass production, with smaller firms and universities also involved. Field testing is planned to expand from a living-lab kitchen and lounge inside KIST into hospitals and public facilities.
Commercialisation caveat
Lee himself told SED that short demonstrations are not the same as months of unsupervised workplace duty, and that judgement, hand dexterity, batteries, durability and safety still need work. For humanoid industry readers, KAPEX is a localisation and technology-transfer story first: a government lab platform moving into a chaebol manufacturing stack, with awards marking research progress rather than a retail product launch date.