RLWRLD Raises $14.8M to Build Foundation Model for Robotics

As industrial robots proliferate across global factories — with over 540,000 new units installed in 2023 alone — there’s a growing awareness of what robots can’t yet do: handle delicate materials, adapt to unpredictable environments, or perform tasks that require nuanced, humanlike reasoning. South Korean startup RLWRLD is stepping out of stealth mode to change that.

Armed with a fresh $14.8 million seed round led by Hashed and backed by strategic giants like LG Electronics, SK Telecom, Ana Group, and Mitsui Chemicals, RLWRLD is building a foundational AI model for robotics — one that blends large language models with traditional robotics software to make robots think more like humans and move more like them too.

“Using RLWRLD’s foundation model, processes that require a lot of manual work can be completely automated by learning and copying human expertise,” said founder and CEO Jung-Hee Ryu.

The model promises to give robots the ability to make agile movements, execute tasks with five-finger dexterity, and apply a degree of logical reasoning — all breakthroughs that could unlock automation for jobs previously too complex or fluid for machines.

Why RLWRLD Might Succeed Where Others Stumble

Unlike typical industrial robots optimized for repetitive tasks, RLWRLD’s approach targets high degree-of-freedom (DoF) scenarios — where human-like articulation and adaptability are essential. While other players like Tesla’s Optimus and Figure AI focus on humanoid robotics too, Ryu believes RLWRLD has a structural edge:

• Hardware Access: It already has access to a high-DoF reference robot, unlike competitors relying on two-fingered grippers.
• Local Manufacturing Power: With strategic investors deeply embedded in Korea and Japan’s industrial backbone, RLWRLD can tap into real-world manufacturing sites for training data and testing grounds.
• Academic Firepower: The company recruited six professors from elite South Korean institutions (KAIST, SNU, POSTECH), giving it a formidable R&D foundation from day one.

From Labs to Factories — and Eventually Homes

RLWRLD plans to use the funding to scale fast: buying GPUs and robots, hiring top-tier AI researchers, and running proof-of-concept projects with strategic investors. A humanoid-based autonomous action demo is already in the works for later this year.

The immediate focus is industrial automation, where demand and budgets are high. But the vision is broader — think logistics centers, retail spaces, and ultimately home robots capable of performing household chores.

“I realized Korea and Japan lacked infrastructure like data and GPUs, which held back AI startups,” Ryu explained. “By focusing on robotics foundation models, we can leverage our countries’ strength in manufacturing, instead of competing in the saturated LLM space.”

With only 13 employees, RLWRLD is lean — but strategically positioned at the intersection of AI, robotics, and industrial scale. And if it delivers on its promise, it could help reshape the future of work — not by replacing all human tasks, but by finally giving robots the tools to tackle jobs that still rely on human finesse.

In a world racing to automate, RLWRLD wants to give robots a foundation to move, think, and adapt — just like us.