Lotte Innovate has been selected as the operating institution for a government-led generative artificial intelligence (AI) talent development project, accelerating its efforts to secure intelligent robot technologies that operate in physical space. Lotte Innovate announced that it has been finally chosen as the lead organization for the 2026 Generative AI Leading Talent Training Project promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP).

The project aims to establish a practical industry–academia cooperation model capable of solving complex industrial-site challenges. In particular, it focuses on fostering master’s and doctoral-level experts in the field of physical AI, which involves humanoid robots and other systems with physical structures resembling the human form, in order to secure national industrial competitiveness. The project will run for about four years from April 2026 until the end of 2029, with a total budget of KRW 7.25 billion to be invested.

Lotte Innovate will form a consortium with leading academic institutions KAIST, Yonsei University, and Inha University to simultaneously secure fundamental technologies and cultivate human resources. As the lead company, Lotte Innovate will open the application programming interface (API) of its proprietary generative AI-based models and real research data, and will conduct joint experiments and dispatch-based research with research teams at each university.

A division-of-labor research structure has also been established by participating universities. KAIST will take charge of the Vision-Language-Navigation (VLN) interface, a technology that combines visual information and language to find routes, and of building virtual experimental environments. Yonsei University will be responsible for establishing safety and ethical guidelines for intelligent systems and optimizing internal device computation, while Inha University will focus on developing technologies for precise pathfinding and anomaly detection. Through this, the consortium plans to complete a virtuous cycle in which education, research, and real-world validation are seamlessly connected.

Steps toward practical implementation are already taking concrete shape. Lotte Innovate has deployed humanoid robots at AI LAB 3.0, an AI experimental store operated in collaboration with its affiliate Korea Seven, and has showcased its technological capabilities at Skyrun, the vertical marathon event held at Lotte World Tower. The company plans to gradually expand the use of robots across logistics and distribution throughout the group.

In the first year of the project, efforts will focus on building the basic environment required to operate physical AI. Each university will complete the construction of training datasets and the design of industrial Internet of Things (IoT) information collection pathways, and from the second year the project will move into full-scale research to advance intelligent models.

The project’s outcomes are expected to lead not only to the acquisition of intellectual property such as patents and academic papers, but also to the dissemination of technologies through academic conferences and related channels. Lotte Innovate stated that as intelligent technologies, which had remained in the virtual realm, transition into physical entities, innovation across industries will accelerate. The company further emphasized that it will integrate universities’ educational capabilities with corporate on-site needs to cultivate practical talent and take the lead in the advanced intelligent robot market.

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