▲YUJIN ROBOT Songdo new offices aerial view

YUJIN ROBOT(www.yujinrobot.com) has announced that it will issue a total of KRW 52 billion worth of third-party allocation to Miele’s holding company Imanto and joint company Shiman.

The Miele Group will invest a total of KRW 52 billion in order to expand cooperation with Korea's representative service robot company, YUJIN ROBOT. To this end, YUJIN ROBOT and Miele will form a venture company, Shiman, to jointly seek out new robot-related products and technology. Since 2014, YUJIN ROBOT has been working in collaboration with Miele – the world’s premium domestic appliances company headquartered in Germany – in order to produce and sell cleaning robots jointly developed by the two companies.

▲YUJIN ROBOT Iron Man and Star Wars R2-D2 cleaning robot.

Established in 1988, YUJIN ROBOT is one of Korea’s largest robot companies to develop, manufacture and sell service robots such as cleaning robots, logistics robots, social robots, and outdoor robots. In 2016, the company had sales of roughly KRW 60 billion and 150 employees. Miele is a global premium consumer electronics manufacturer that manufactures and sells household appliances and medical equipment. In the high-end domestic appliances market, the German company sells over 2.5 million units, making it a leader in the European consumer electronics market.

The partnership between the two companies dates back to 2012 when Miele took its first steps into the new robot cleaner market. Miele’s “Scout RX1” has been a steady success since 2014. During this transition year, the Scout RX2 is expected to be launched with a threefold increase in suction power, sophisticated navigation system, and utility functions. This product can deliver live images from home to a tablet PC or smartphone. The Scout RX2 was also jointly developed by the two partners, with YUJIN ROBOT on the production front.

As a way to boost returns on research and development, YUJIN ROBOT and Miele, and their joint company Shiman have concluded a research and development cooperation agreement, agreed to promote the continuous growth of YUJIN ROBOT, and pledged to jointly plan and develop new products. In addition to cleaning robots, YUJIN ROBOT is also developing commercial robots such as hospital logistics robots and other service robots. For Meile’s part, they are in the midst of actively integrating robot technology such as AI, Big Data, and IoT into their existing products. Both companies have agreed to jointly plan the technologies and products roadmap for innovation in their existing products and and new product development.

Through this investment, YUJIN ROBOT expects to complete their Songdo offices and to expand employment opportunities for R & D, production, and joint growth of related industries such as parts for SW and service industries.

CEO of YUJIN ROBOT Kyung Chul Shin explained this strategic partnership, “We believe that the Miele Group is a trustworthy partner and that we will be able to maintain independence in our company’s management. Not only are our two companies pioneering a new market, but by leveraging our combined expertise and resources for the development of new products and technologies, we anticipate that our business performances will be maximized.”