Robotis
Robotis is a Korean maker of Dynamixel servo actuators and open platform robots. It productised the DARwIn-OP academic humanoid, followed by OP2 and OP3, and built the full size THORMANG research humanoid.
- Type
- startup
- Headquarters
- Seoul, South Korea
- Founded
- 1999
- Founders
- Byoung-Soo Kim
- Status
- active
- Employees (est.)
- n/d
- Disclosed funding
- n/d
- Valuation
- n/d
- Listed
- KOSDAQ: 108490
- Website
- en.robotis.com
What the record says.
Robotis was founded in Seoul in 1999 by Kim Byoung-soo, who still runs it and holds about 27 percent, and listed on KOSDAQ in October 2018. LG Electronics holds a stake reported at 6.6 to 7.5 percent. The core business is Dynamixel, smart servo actuators launched in 2003 and found in many hobby, education and research robots, plus cycloid gears and delivery robots. In 2025 it reported record sales of KRW 38.9 billion, about USD 27.5 million, 97 percent from actuators, and a first operating profit in four years of KRW 3.3 billion.
Its humanoids have mostly been small open platforms that showcase the actuators. Robotis built DARwIn-OP, the 20-joint open humanoid developed with Virginia Tech, Purdue and Penn under a USD 1.2 million NSF grant, then its own OP2 and OP3, staples of the RoboCup kid-size league. Bioloid kits took the same servos to hobbyists; THORMANG was a full-size research humanoid.
In April 2026 the company unveiled AI Sapiens, a 135 cm humanoid on new Dynamixel-Q actuators, and had it dance at a government forum in August 2026. Sales are promised for 2027; no price or customer has been named. The clearer bet is upstream: actuator output was 220,000 units in 2025 with a 2026 target above 500,000, and an Uzbekistan factory backed by an LG memorandum is planned.
4 humanoids tracked.
DARwIn-OP
DARwIn-OP (Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence, Open Platform) is a 45 cm open hardware and open software humanoid developed by Virginia Tech's RoMeLa lab with Purdue, Penn and Robotis under a US National Science Foundation grant. Released in late 2010, it became the standard kid size platform in RoboCup and in university teaching. Robotis productised it and followed with OP2 and OP3.
ROBOTIS MINI
ROBOTIS MINI is a 27 cm desktop humanoid built on DYNAMIXEL servos, controlled with block coding or Python. A safe, durable first robot for schools, and the smallest member of the family that runs up to the full-size OP3.
ROBOTIS OP3
ROBOTIS OP3 is the third generation of the open platform humanoid line that started with DARwIn-OP. It is a 51 cm, 3.5 kg kid size research robot with 20 degrees of freedom, an Intel NUC and a ROS based open source software stack. It is used in RoboCup and in teaching labs worldwide.
THORMANG3
THORMANG3 is a modular full size humanoid built by Robotis from its Dynamixel Pro actuators and released in 2015 for research teams, including at the DARPA Robotics Challenge finals. It runs an open source ROS framework and was sold to universities worldwide. It represents the DRC era of modular research humanoids.
Milestones.
Robotis THORMANG3 competes at the DRC Finals
Robotis fields THORMANG3, a 137 cm modular humanoid built from Dynamixel Pro actuators, for Team ROBOTIS and as the base of other DRC teams. The platform is later sold to research labs.
DARwIn-OP open humanoid platform is released
Virginia Tech's RoMeLa lab, Purdue, Penn and Robotis release DARwIn-OP, a 45 cm open hardware and open software humanoid funded by the US National Science Foundation. It becomes the base of Robotis' OP2 and OP3 kid size research robots.
Humanoid races, games and fights: what the competitions proved
Our record holds 11 competition events from 1997 to 2025 and 17 machines tied to them. Six can be ordered, three at a public price, and 13 of the 17 carry a teleoperation flag of yes or partial.
Open-source humanoids: what you can actually build
24 of the 182 humanoids on record call themselves open source. 15 publish hardware files and software, 3 name a licence, 12 can be ordered, and none of the four on preorder has any autonomy evidence yet.
Startups, automakers, universities: who builds humanoids
108 makers, nine kinds. Startups hold 37 of the 44 humanoids you can order. Automakers, universities, big tech, conglomerates and NASA hold 45 robots between them and sell none of them.
Humanoid robot stocks: which of the 108 makers are actually listed
Twenty of the 108 makers in our record have a ticker. Four of them will sell you a humanoid. The rest build cars, chips, servers and washing machines, and the pure plays are all private.
Sources
- 01ROBOTIS e-ManualRobotis
- 02K-robot firm Robotis flexes its muscles, from actuators to humanoid robotsThe Herald Business
- 03ROBOTIS (KOSDAQ:108490) Company ProfileStockAnalysis
- 04Robotis BioloidWikipedia
- 05DARwIn-OPWikipedia