South Korea’s biggest technology groups are competing for the people who know how to turn robots into products. LG Group has reportedly recruited Hyun Dong-jin, the former head of Hyundai Motor Group’s Robotics Lab, to oversee its Physical AI strategy as it prepares to unveil a new humanoid robot next year.
According to a report published by the Korea Economic Daily on October 23, Hyun joined LG Sciencepark earlier this month as an executive vice president responsible for Physical AI. His remit is expected to include coordinating robotics development across LG’s businesses and helping guide the group’s longer-term humanoid plans. LG has not separately announced the appointment.
Hyun spent seven years at Hyundai Motor Group after joining in 2019, leading work on robotic systems including MobED, a compact mobile platform, and X-ble Shoulder, a wearable industrial support device. He left Hyundai in April. The move would put an executive with experience developing robots for practical use in charge of bringing together LG’s capabilities in hardware, software and manufacturing.
LG already has an unusually broad collection of technologies to draw on. LG Electronics develops actuators and robot platforms, LG Innotek works on sensing systems, and LG Energy Solution supplies batteries. The group also controls Bear Robotics, whose commercial service robots operate in hospitality and other environments.
In August, LG and NVIDIA announced plans to introduce a bipedal humanoid in the first quarter of 2027. The project is intended to use NVIDIA’s Isaac GR00T robotics foundation model, Jetson Thor computing and Halos safety technologies alongside components developed by LG affiliates. That unveiling remains a target rather than a completed launch.
The reported appointment comes as Korean conglomerates reorganize around robotics. Samsung established a dedicated robotics division earlier this year and recruited a former Hyundai robotics executive for its strategy team. For LG, the immediate task is not simply to demonstrate another humanoid. It is to make its different robotics businesses work as one.
