For over 20 years, Robots and Design(www.rnd.re.kr) has developed and manufactured over 55 robots in the semiconductor and medical fields. Since the company’s founding in 1999, they have been suppliers of robots and modules for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, display manufacturing equipment, cutting-edge robots, and bioengineering and laboratory automation equipment.

Early on in its founding, the company developed Clean Cartesian Coordinate Robots, Ultra Precision Robot Stages, 300mm Semiconductor Wafer Handling Robots, the Humanoid Robot Arm, and Ultra fine work systems needed in biotechnology. Although other companies were dependent on imported equipment, Robots and Design has been able to keep their automation robots localized, so that they are solely Korean made. The company is proud to be a global leader in the field of ultra-precision robotics.

From the Wafer transfer robot with the standard type link structure to the orthogonal robots, the company offers a wide range of robot products that can be applied to the entire semiconductor manufacturing process as well as its post process. The company also supplies special robots catered to customers’ specifications.

In 2015, the company succeeded in localizing the “transparent wafer alignment device” for use in semiconductors. The “Pre Aligner for transparent wafer” is a device that aligns the center of the thin silicon plate (wafer), making it a vital device in the semiconductor manufacturing process. Despite the increased demand for the transparent wafer alignment devices by a growing number of companies in the semiconductor business, the unavailability of the necessary equipment in the country compelled companies to depend on imported products.

Robots and Design also developed a transfer robot for semiconductor processing. The Long Scara Robot, showcased at this year’s SEMICON 2017, features the ability to transport semiconductor wafers just as a single robot, without a principal axis. In addition, Robots and Design also supplies the LED transfer Dual Arm Robot, LED Aligner, and the Mask Handling Robot, which is required in display manufacturing.

Robots and Design is also becoming prominent in the medical and biotech fields. The company was known for supplying semiconductor robots to large corporations, but in 2008, they dove into the dental field by providing custom-designed CAD/CAM as an OEM company. They are now suppliers of the MAXX series of dental milling machines, which are core pieces of equipment in CAD/CAM. In the past, the proportion of foreign-made products was high, but with improvements in domestic technology, Korean milling machines are now being widely recognized abroad.

▲Medical equipment for artificial crowns (dental prosthesis)

The company has also localized medical equipment for artificial crowns (dental prosthesis), which had previously been dependent on imports. The dental artificial crown manufacturing system is highly dependent on imports. The price of imports is high, and although the system is a useful one in dentistry, the penetration rate has been surprisingly low. In other countries, the penetration rate has been steadily increasing for the past 5 to 6 years, and prosthetic dentistry using this system is gaining in popularity. With their “Integrated production services system for the next generation robot-based artificial crown” project, funded by the Korea institute for Robot Industry Advancement’s market promotion project, the company played a large role in localizing this industry and replacing much of the imports.

▲Unmanned Automated Cell Therapy Production System

Recently, the company developed the “Unmanned Automated Cell Therapy Production System.” Cell therapy production is core in the new disease therapy paradigm, which uses regenerative medicine. In the cell therapy production process, the company was able to eliminate the human factor and develop unmanned automated cell therapy equipment that corresponds to the standard GMP. In the past, diseases were traditionally treated through medication or surgeries. However, in the field of regenerative medicine, diseases are treated at a fundamental level. With the rapid technological development surrounding cells and stem cells, the ability to fundamentally treat diseases is emerging as a new paradigm in regenerative medicine.