South Korean robotics giant WIRobotics unveiled its first humanoid robot ALLEX at RIH a few days ago. Unlike current mainstream humanoid robots, ALLEX's core breakthrough lies in its hardware-level tactile response capabilities—even without tactile sensors.
Its robotic arm can detect force changes as low as 100 grams (approximately the weight of a strawberry) and dynamically adjust its gripping force, enabling egg-cracking precision. This design revolutionises traditional human-robot interaction logic, elevating it from motion mimicry to the physical interaction intuition level.
ALLEX's robotic arm weighs only 700 grams, with the shoulder-to-arm section weighing approximately 5 kilograms. The robot's overall weight is among the lightest in the industry. The 15-degree-of-freedom robotic arm is comparable in size to a human palm, with repeatability accuracy of less than 0.3 millimetres, supporting complex movements and precision industrial operations.
The launch of ALLEX humanoid robot is a key move in South Korea's K-Robot Strategy. The country leads the world with a robot density of 1,012 robots per 10,000 employees and is betting heavily on the humanoid robotics sector.
ALLEX humanoid robot is positioned as a modular, disassemblable robot platform, allowing users to flexibly deploy arm, hand, or torso components according to their needs. Leveraging WIRobotics' expertise in wearable rehabilitation devices (such as the WIM walker exoskeleton robot), ALLEX will initially target the elderly care and rehabilitation sectors, serving as a daily assistant and caregiver for the elderly; simultaneously, it will leverage its high-precision force control capabilities to enter precision assembly in manufacturing and home service scenarios.