Just wrapped up Smart Tech Korea 2026 in Gangnam, managed by Kim Mi-Rae and Shannon Park. Following my attendance at the Humanoids Summit.
Over the course of the event, I spoke with engineers, researchers, founders, system integrators, robotics manufacturers, AI companies, and autonomous systems developers spanning Korea, Japan, China, and beyond. One observation became increasingly clear:
The industry is making significant progress in AI capabilities, robotics hardware, perception systems, and deployment infrastructure. However, conversations repeatedly highlighted a growing gap between preventative security measures and operational security capabilities.
Over the course of the event, I spoke with engineers, researchers, founders, system integrators, robotics manufacturers, AI companies, and autonomous systems developers spanning Korea, Japan, China, and beyond. One observation became increasingly clear:
The industry is making significant progress in AI capabilities, robotics hardware, perception systems, and deployment infrastructure. However, conversations repeatedly highlighted a growing gap between preventative security measures and operational security capabilities.
Key takeaways:
- NVIDIA Jetson continues to emerge as a common compute platform across robotics and autonomous systems deployments.
- China maintains a significant presence in the humanoid robotics ecosystem, with many systems and platforms such as LimX Dynamics, EngineAI, DEEP Robotics, SIMPLE-AI, AGIBOT, RealMan Robotics, Galbot & Booster Robotics entering international markets through distributors, integrators, and strategic partnerships.
- Organizations are increasingly focused on AI performance, deployment speed, and operational scalability as they move from prototypes toward production environments.
- Very few organizations appear to have mature capabilities for continuously monitoring the operational integrity, configuration state, and behavioral changes of deployed autonomous systems.
- Most teams have implemented some form of preventative security controls, such as device hardening, access controls, or secure deployment practices.
- Several engineers independently distinguished between embedded security controls and operational security, highlighting that prevention alone does not provide visibility into what happens after deployment.
- Beyond industrial and humanoid robotics, STK featured a substantial number of assistive technologies including intelligent wheelchairs, rehabilitation robots, mobility assistance systems, and physical therapy platforms.
Robotics & Autonomous Systems Ecosystem
Humanoids Summit Tokyo - Humanoid Snapshot
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