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Implements human-like whole-body force sensing and compliance across arms, fingers, and waist; introduces a new high-DOF compliant hand, a low-friction backdrivable arm, and a gravity-compensated upper body
CHEONAN, South Korea, Aug. 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ –Global robotics leader WIRobotics (Co-CEOs Yong-Jae Kim, Professor at KOREATECH, and Younbaek Lee) today 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).
WIRobotics Unveils ‘ALLEX,’ a General-Purpose Humanoid with Human-Like Responsiveness
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,”
About WIRobotics
Founded in June 2021 by four former engineers from Samsung’s Robotics Development Team, WIRobotics is a startup specializing in wearable and humanoid robots. Guided by the vision “Technology for People, Enhancing Quality of Life,” the company aims to realize the everyday adoption of robots beyond laboratories and industrial sites. WIRobotics developed the WIBS industrial back-support robot and the WIM daily mobility-assist robot, winning CES Innovation Awards in Robotics for two consecutive years (2024 and 2025). The company established Korea’s first Wearable Robot Gait Training Center and operates walking-health programs for the public. In March 2024, it raised KRW 13 billion in Series A funding to accelerate the popularization of wearable robots. Continuing R&D on safe, flexible robotic arms and hands and on bipedal locomotion, WIRobotics opened the Robot Innovation Hub in June 2024 to collaborate with research institutions in Korea and abroad.
