Persona AI (artificial intelligence), which is promoting the introduction of humanoid (human-shaped) robots to domestic heavy and large-scale industrial sites such as HD Hyundai and POSCO, has begun demonstrating autonomous welding at actual customer work sites. This marks a shift from the stage where humans remotely controlled robots to accumulate welding data, to a stage where robots perform welding on their own. Persona AI also plans to unveil its next-generation third-generation (Gen3) humanoid this fall.
Michael Perry, Head of Commercial Strategy at Persona AI, stated during his opening keynote speech titled "Why Humanoids?" at the 'Humanoid Summit Seoul 2026' held at COEX in Seoul on the 22nd that "Over the past few weeks, we have deployed robots at customer sites to perform autonomous welding as a complete robot system." He further explained, "We are collecting performance data from actual work sites and feeding it back into the learning pipeline to gradually approach the performance of existing human workers."
The key point is that Persona AI's welding humanoid has moved beyond remote control to enter the stage of autonomous work. The Gen2 welding task unveiled by Persona AI last July was conducted via teleoperation, where humans controlled the robot. At that time, the robot walked directly to the work site, squatted down, performed welding, and then stood up again, but the company explicitly stated that the operation was carried out through teleoperation. The strategy was to use the process of skilled welders operating the robots as learning data for future autonomous operations.
Persona AI is gradually teaching robots how humans actually work. First, it digitizes the way humans move their bodies through motion capture and trains the robot via teleoperation to lower its body, pick up a welding torch, and locate workpieces. This is then transferred to simulations before being applied to actual robots.
It also learns different work methods for each customer. By collecting on-site work data such as welding voltage, speed, and torch movement patterns, the system enables robots to perform tasks in a manner similar to how each customer has traditionally operated. Perry explained this as "not simply welding, but 'welding the customer way'."
Persona AI's technological advancements are also drawing attention from South Korea's shipbuilding and steel industries. Persona AI is developing shipyard welding humanoids in collaboration with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, HD Hyundai Robotics, and Basil Company. HD Hyundai has previously set a goal to complete prototype development by 2026 and pursue on-site demonstration and commercialization at actual shipyards in 2027. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries will support the use of real shipyard work data and on-site application, while HD Hyundai Robotics will be responsible for welding automation technology and performance verification. Additionally, Persona AI is conducting demonstrations to apply humanoids to steel product logistics operations within POSCO Group's steel mills.
Hardware is also moving to the next stage. Perry introduced Gen2, which was unveiled in May this year, and announced that "Persona AI will release its Gen3 robot later this fall." Gen3 is expected to focus on an industrial platform capable of operating without modifying existing industrial environments such as shipyards and steel mills.
in INDUSTRY
