The Robot Business Division of Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings, the No. 1 robot company in Korea, has signed an MOU on the robot business with Naver Labs, a research and development corporation of Naver, the largest internet company in Korea. The two companies announced on May 28 that they held an MOU ceremony, with the participation of Yoon Jung-keun, head of the Robot Business Division and Song Chang-hyun, CEO of Naver Labs, at Hyundai Building in Gyeongdong in Seoul. Through this MOU, the two companies will join forces in the development and production of service robots. Hyundai Heavy Industries will take charge of production, sales, quality control, and development of service robots based on its capability to commercialize robots. Naver Labs will be in charge of technology research and development and the development of system and application software for robot production.

Sony Corp. said Wednesday it has invested in U.S. artificial intelligence startup Cogitai, aiming to develop new AI technologies and release products within the next three years. Sony is believed to have obtained a roughly 20 percent stake in the company that was founded in September by three AI researchers. The move could lead to the electronics giant re-entering the robot business. Sony was an AI pioneer, known for producing robotic dog AIBO and humanoid QRIO featuring AI technologies. But it withdrew from the robot business in 2006 to improve profitability and restructure its consumer electronics business.

Sony Corp. said Wednesday it has invested in U.S. artificial intelligence startup Cogitai, aiming to develop new AI technologies and release products using them within the next three years. Sony is believed to have obtained a roughly 20 percent stake in the company, founded in September by three AI researchers, in a move that could lead to the Japanese electronics giant's return to the robot business. Sony was an AI pioneer, known for producing robotic dog AIBO and humanoid QRIO featuring AI technologies. But it withdrew from the robot business in 2006 to improve profitability and restructure its consumer electronics business. The company has continued AI research itself, however, and its technologies, including face and speech recognitions, have been applied to other Sony products, such as digital cameras and smartphones.