AI-powered manufacturing takes the spotlight at AW 2025

By Staff Report April 7, 2025 6:44 pm IST

The Smart Factory + Automation World 2025 (AW 2025) exhibition in Asia concluded with a record-breaking scale, attracting around 70,000 visitors. The exhibition aimed to highlight cutting-edge manufacturing technologies and the imminent arrival of AI-driven manufacturing.

The ‘Smart Factory + Automation World 2025 (AW 2025), Asia’s leading smart factory and automation industry trade show, successfully concluded on March 14 with a record-breaking scale. The exhibition featured 500 companies from 22 countries, showcasing innovations across 2,200 booths, attracting approximately 70,000 visitors—an increase of 10% in exhibitors and 15% in visitors compared to the previous year.

Co-hosted by COEX (President Lee Dong-ki), Korea Industry Intelligentization Association (Chairman Kim Do-hoon), Smart Factory Business Management System (Director Ahn Kwang-hyun), Korea Machine Vision Industrial Association (Chairman Baek Hong-gi), Chomdan (CEO Lee Joon-won), and the Korea International Trade Association (Chairman Yoon Jin-sik), the exhibition was held across the entire COEX venue from March 12 to 14. Under the theme ‘Automation to Autonomy’, the exhibition featured AI, smart factory solutions, big data, cloud computing, logistics robots, and industrial robots, highlighting cutting-edge manufacturing technologies and emphasising the imminent arrival of AI-driven manufacturing.

One of the exhibition’s highlights was the first-ever showcase in Asia of ‘Stretch’, a logistics robot from Boston Dynamics, a subsidiary of Hyundai Glovis. Capable of handling boxes up to 23kg, Stretch demonstrated real-time ‘depalletising’ tasks at the event, garnering enthusiastic responses from attendees. 

Hyundai AutoEver unveiled its AI-driven Software-Defined Factory (SDF) solution, ‘NeoFactory’, for the first time. The ‘Factory Demonstration Zone’ provided an immersive experience, allowing visitors to witness collaborative robots, Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), and AI-driven exterior inspection vision systems in action, demonstrating real-world applications of advanced production technologies.

Schneider Electric, recognised as the world’s leading sustainable enterprise, celebrated the 50th anniversary of its Korea branch with the theme ‘50 Years of Innovation: A Sustainable IMPACT for Smart Factory’. The company introduced next-generation smart manufacturing solutions tailored to the rising demand for high-mix, high-volume production systems, emphasising automation and autonomy.

U.S.-based Rockwell Automation, a global leader in industrial automation, introduced ‘OTTO 100’, a compact yet powerful autonomous mobile robot (AMR) designed to optimise factory logistics, drawing significant attention from industry professionals.

Expanding Business Opportunities: Overseas buyer meetings and innovation rounds. This year’s exhibition significantly expanded its business programs. The Overseas Buyer Export Consultation Meetings, organised by the Korea International Trade Association, attracted 23 buyers from nine countries, facilitating 317 business meetings with 134 domestic companies. Notable participants included major buyers such as Indonesia’s largest telecommunications company, Telkomsel, and Panasonic Indonesia. The consultations led to an estimated USD 106 million in export agreements for automation-related technologies.

The newly launched ‘AW Open Innovation Round’ was another key highlight, providing a platform for startups to connect with large and midsized enterprises for business collaboration and investment opportunities. The top six selected startups—Movic Lab, MyLink, RTM, EdgeCross, OnePredict, and PowerAuto Robotics—received positive responses from industry leaders.

Lee Won-geun, CEO of Movic Lab, one of the top six innovative startups, stated, “During the exhibition, over 30 major corporations, including Samsung Electronics, LG Energy Solution, Hyundai Motor, and Samsung SDI, requested technology validation. Additionally, eight investment firms visited our booth, with two expressing interest in potential investment, yielding results beyond our expectations.”

Lee Dong-ki, President of COEX, remarked, “This exhibition has clearly demonstrated the direction of the manufacturing paradigm. The realisation of highly autonomous factories driven by AI and robotics is just around the corner.”