A South Korean artificial-intelligence startup is collecting workers’ techniques from hotels, warehouses, and convenience stores to build AI brains for robots, a process that extracts human expertise for corporate profit while threatening widespread job displacement. RLWRLD, pronounced “real world,” is working with companies including the Lotte Hotel Seoul, CJ, and the Japanese convenience store chain Lawson to create an extensive library of human expertise harvested from skilled workers across industries.
At Lotte Hotel Seoul, David Park, a food and beverages manager who has worked at the hotel for nine years, was filmed folding a banquet napkin while wearing body cameras. Each of his motions is fed into a database designed to teach a robot to perform the same task. Park also wiped wine glasses, knives, and forks, noting the cameras on his hands felt too tight.
RLWRLD is also collecting data from logistics workers at CJ, capturing how they grip, lift, and handle goods in warehouses. Staff at Lawson are tracked as they organize food displays. This data collection aims to build an AI software layer for robots in factories and other work sites, with potential expansion into homes, replicating the dexterity of human hands.
The Extraction of Labor's Knowledge
The company is part of a wave of South Korean high-tech firms competing in the global market for “physical AI,” machines equipped with AI and sensors that can perceive, decide, and act with some autonomy. This market, though unproven, is fiercely contested, moving beyond conventional factory robots designed for repetitive tasks. South Korea views physical AI as central to its ambition to leverage its semiconductor and manufacturing strengths to become an AI powerhouse, seeing an advantage in its deep base of skilled workers who can train robot systems.
Last month, the government announced a $33 million project to capture the “instinctive know-how and skills” of “master technicians” into a database for AI-powered manufacturing. This state-backed initiative hopes robots will boost productivity and offset an aging, shrinking workforce, directly supporting capital accumulation through automation. RLWRLD, which last week unveiled its robotics foundation model, expects industrial AI robots to be deployed at scale around 2028, a timeline shared by major businesses.
Hyundai Motor plans to introduce humanoids built by its robotics unit, Boston Dynamics, at its global factories in two years, starting with its Georgia plant. Samsung Electronics plans to convert all manufacturing sites into “AI-driven factories” by 2030, deploying humanoids and task-specific robots across production lines. Lotte Hotel hopes robots will be ready for cleaning and other behind-the-scenes tasks in three years, and plans robot rental services for the hospitality and other service industries.
The State's Hand in Automation
The push for automation has unsettled labor groups, who fear robots could take jobs and hollow out the skilled workforce, long seen as the nation’s competitive edge. After Hyundai’s union warned in January of an “employment shock” from robots, President Lee Jae Myung issued a rare rebuke. He described AI as an unstoppable “massive cart” and called for unionists to adapt to changes “coming faster than expected,” effectively dismissing organized labor's concerns and aligning the state with corporate automation goals.
Kim Seok, policy director at the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, stated that “Mastery of skills is ultimately a human achievement.” He warned that widespread robot deployments would risk “severing the pipeline” for skilled labor. Kim urged the government and employers to engage with workers over AI to win their buy-in and ease job concerns, a reformist approach that seeks accommodation within the existing system rather than challenging the fundamental drive for surplus extraction.
David Park, the Lotte Hotel manager whose skills are being digitized, estimated that humanoids might be able to take over “30% to 40%” of the workload in back-of-house areas, acknowledging the difficulty for them to replace human-to-human interaction. Hospitality workers provide valuable training data for machines learning precise or nuanced tasks, skills that could expand robots’ use in industrial settings.
RLWRLD’s engineers convert worker footage into machine-readable data, then repeat the tasks wearing cameras, VR headsets, and motion-tracking gloves. This data trains test robots, often guided by RLWRLD “pilots” using wearable devices. The company is among a smaller group developing AI for five-fingered hands that mimic human touch, a design that could be crucial as robots move into homes, further privatizing labor and extending capital's reach into domestic spheres.