South Korea’s Navy recently conducted a groundbreaking test where a humanoid robot named PIBOT took control of a ship's helm for the first time. The trial took place at the Naval Education and Training Command in Changwon and involved navigating narrow waterways, harsh weather, and nighttime conditions.
The experiment comes as the Navy faces a shrinking pool of draft-age recruits due to the country’s low birth rate, pushing the military to explore robotic solutions to maintain operational capability with fewer personnel.
Robot Takes Helm with Human-Like Command Response
PIBOT, developed by Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), uses a large language model to process verbal orders and repeats commands back before execution, mimicking how human helmsmen confirm instructions to avoid errors. During the test, the robot responded to commands like "Port five degrees, hold course 330," and successfully steered the simulated Aegis destroyer accordingly.
Cmdr. Kim Hyeong-jun, leading the Navy’s Force Analysis and Test Evaluation Group, described the trial as a first step in assessing whether robots can perform ship handling without error. The project, funded by South Korea’s Agency for Defense Development with around $4 million, began in 2022 and aims to eventually deploy robotic crews on active warships.
Professor Shim Hyun-chul, KAIST’s lead researcher, highlighted the importance of physically testing AI-based humanoid robots in real helmsman roles, marking a significant milestone in military robotics development.
