MakinaRocks leads industry shift toward Physical AI for manufacturing

At the ‘ATTENTION 2026’ industrial AI conference held in Seoul, industry leaders emphasized a shift from general generative AI toward ‘Physical AI’—technology designed to operate reliably within complex industrial environments like factories, shipyards, and semiconductor lines.

MakinaRocks CEO Yun Seong-ho noted that while AI performance is improving, many companies have yet to see measurable productivity gains because models often fail to handle the ‘long-tail’ variables of real-world sites, such as unexpected worker behavior or equipment fluctuations. To address this, MakinaRocks is promoting ‘Enterprise AI Sovereignty,’ helping companies connect their proprietary data and operational expertise to AI systems through its ‘Runway’ operating system and Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) model.

Other major players shared their strategies for integrating AI into core operations. KAIST and Daim Research introduced ‘KAIROS,’ an orchestration platform for 5th-generation autonomous factories. Hankook & Company is redesigning business processes by linking R&D, production, and logistics data, including developing AI for tire pattern generation. HD Hyundai is pursuing an AI transformation (AX) to build intelligent autonomous shipyards, utilizing AI to capture the expertise of skilled workers to mitigate labor shortages and optimize production and safety.