Insider Brief
- WIRobotics unveiled the upper body of its first general-purpose humanoid robot, ALLEX, at KOREATECH’s Robot Innovation Hub, highlighting advanced compliance, force control, and humanlike interaction capabilities.
- ALLEX features a 15-degree-of-freedom robotic hand, ultra-low-friction actuators, a gravity-compensated waist, and whole-body force control without external sensors, enabling safe and precise interaction across services, manufacturing, and home applications.
- WIRobotics plans to expand ALLEX into a modular commercial platform and is partnering with AI startup RLWRLD, as well as institutions including MIT, UIUC, UMass, KIST, and Maxon, to build an open innovation ecosystem for robotics and AI convergence.
PRESS RELEASE – Global robotics leader WIRobotics (Co-CEOs Yong-Jae Kim, Professor at KOREATECH, and Younbaek Lee) unveiled the upper body of its first general-purpose humanoid robot, ALLEX, at the Robot Innovation Hub (RIH) located on the First Campus of the Korea University of Technology and Education (KOREATECH).
Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/qT2UZ3oN4xI?si=5im0YYNrNq8nSNr6
ALLEX stands for “ALL-EXperience.” Beyond visual recognition and position control, it responds to physical stimuli such as force, contact, and impact in the real world. By delivering humanlike interaction capabilities, ALLEX sets a new standard for humanoid robots, surpassing the limitations of current robotics.
Developed with WIRobotics’ proprietary mechanisms and control technologies, the newly unveiled ALLEX comprises a new high-degree-of-freedom (DOF) robotic hand that senses reaction forces like a human and yields compliantly to external loads; a highly backdrivable robot arm with more than 10 times lower friction and rotational inertia than conventional collaborative robot arms; and a upper body with a gravity compensation mechanism. With precise force control and flexible motion, ALLEX significantly expands applicability in fields that require direct interaction with people, including services, manufacturing, and household tasks.
Technical Highlights
High–DOF compliant robotic hand. A human-hand-sized end-effector with 15 DOF enables precise motions and diverse tasks. With inherent human-like compliance, it detects and responds to forces as small as 100 gf even without tactile sensors; fingertip repeatability is 0.3 mm or less. It delivers 40 N fingertip force and over 30 kg hook grip—world-class grasping performance among high-DOF, human-sized robotic hands.
New actuation and control technologies. A newly developed ultra-low-friction, high-load actuator achieves human-level adaptability and force-control performance. A motor-control algorithm integrating precise position control with force and stiffness control is applied to the actuator. Together with a gravity-compensated waist, the whole-body design enables safe interaction, high-load operation, and precision control.
Lightweight structure with high payload capacity. The hand is approximately 700 g, and the assembly from the shoulder down is about 5 kg, enabling agile, safe, and human-like motion. Across the full workspace, more than 3 kg can be handled with one hand, corresponding to the work capability of mid-size collaborative robots weighing over 20 kg.
Whole-body force control and interaction. As the first inherently compliant humanoid capable of force-based responses across the arms, fingers, and waist without force sensors, ALLEX enables safe yet dynamic interactions with people. By minimizing the sim-to-real gap, it is optimized for machine-learning-based training and also ensures autonomy and scalability.
WIRobotics places the establishment of technical leadership in the field of general-purpose humanoid platforms as a top priority based on ALLEX. Going forward, the company will expand ALLEX into a modular platform—supplying arms, hands, body, and leader systems individually or in combination—and build a foundation for commercialization through field demonstrations in various industries.
To promote the convergence of robotics and AI, the company is building an open innovation ecosystem. WIRobotics has formed a strategic partnership with RLWRLD, a physical AI startup, to develop ALLEX’s intelligence, and is collaborating with leading domestic and overseas research institutions and companies, including MIT, UIUC, UMass, KIST, and Maxon. The company plans to expand the distribution of research platforms and broaden global commercialization partnerships in stages.
“ALLEX goes beyond merely replicating human movement —it is the first robot that truly experiences and responds to the real world,” said Yong-Jae Kim, Co-CEO and CTO of WIRobotics. “From day one, we’ve developed technology for people. Building on the wearable robotics we introduced two years ago, our goal is to deliver by 2030 a general-purpose humanoid platform that anyone can use in everyday life. We will open a new era of general-purpose robotics where precision and flexibility coexist,”
