South Korea Lets Humanoid Robots Work Alongside Factory Workers

South Korea has, for the first time, cleared humanoid robots to work in the same space as people on real factory floors. On October 13, 2026, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy granted a special exemption that allows 20 two-legged humanoid robots, made by Seoul startup Robros, to be tested at four industrial sites 

The robots will walk around, recognize objects, and pick up, carry and stack items in areas shared with or next to human workers. 

Why it matters 

Until now, Korea's industrial safety rules made this effectively impossible. The rules were written for traditional factory robots, which stay fixed in one spot, and they require a 1.8-metre safety fence around them to keep people out. However, Humanoids don't fit that model. Their whole point is that they can move around a workplace like a person does. Put a fence around one, and it loses what makes it useful. 

The exemption gets around this rule, but with conditions. Each site must carry out a risk assessment under the Ministry of Employment and Labor and put safety measures in place. It is a trial, not a permanent change.  

According to reports, officials also say this trial will map the hazards that appear when people and humanoids share a workspace, test whether the safeguards hold up, and feed that data into the permanent safety standards Korea will need before humanoids can be adopted more widely.  

The trials also come as South Korea faces the pressures of an ageing population and a shrinking workforce. A 2025 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that 37% of surveyed Korean small and medium-sized businesses had experienced worker shortages in the previous two years, highlighting the difficulty some employers face in filling roles. 
 
Another survey released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor in June 2026 found that manufacturing employers needed approximately 96,000 additional workers as of April. With such adoptions in motion, humanoids could eventually help shoulder repetitive material-handling tasks, but these trials must first establish whether they can work safely and reliably alongside people.