{"id":"naver-ambidex","manufacturer":"Naver Labs","model":"AMBIDEX","country":"KR","description":"AMBIDEX is a dual-arm research robot from NAVER LABS, the research arm of Korean internet company NAVER, developed with the university KOREATECH. Its arms are cable-driven, with the heavy motors in the shoulder and torso, so each arm is lighter than a human one and safe around people. It is neither a walking robot nor a commercial product.","catalog_status":"research","specifications":{"height_cm":null,"weight_kg":null,"payload_kg":null,"dof":null,"speed_ms":null,"battery_h":null},"capabilities":["sort","assemble"],"source":{"url":"https://www.naverlabs.com","verified_at":null,"verified_fields":[],"review_status":"requires_current_source_check"},"evidence":{"manufacturer_review":null,"mera_field_test":{"status":"not_published","report_url":null,"measured_at":null},"verification_note":"A manufacturer documentation check does not verify field performance, inventory or MERA compatibility."},"knowledge":{"summary":"AMBIDEX is a dual-arm research robot from NAVER LABS, the research arm of Korean internet company NAVER, developed with the university KOREATECH. Its arms are cable-driven, with the heavy motors in the shoulder and torso, so each arm is lighter than a human one and safe around people. It is neither a walking robot nor a commercial product.","sections":[{"h":"History and launch","p":["NAVER LABS unveiled AMBIDEX at its DEVIEW conference in 2017 as a robot arm with a novel cable-driven mechanism. It is the result of long-term collaboration with KOREATECH (Korea University of Technology and Education), particularly Professor Yong-Jae Kim.","At CES 2019 NAVER LABS and Qualcomm demonstrated AMBIDEX as a 5G \"brainless robot\", using the network's low latency for precise control without a powerful onboard processor. In November 2020 NAVER LABS showed an expanded version with a waist, a sensor head and a BLT gripper, and in 2022 it described a redesigned platform with head, torso, waist and arms."]},{"h":"Design and hardware","p":["All the heavy actuators sit in the shoulder and body, and the arm joints are moved by cables. This makes the arm lighter than a human arm, and force-enhancing mechanisms in each joint give, according to NAVER LABS, industrial-robot levels of control, performance and precision. Each arm has 7 degrees of freedom, like a human arm.","The 2020 version added a waist that extends the workspace, a sensor head for object perception and the BLT Gripper, which can switch between grasping methods. NAVER LABS does not publish full specifications such as weight, height or payload."]},{"h":"Software and AI","p":["Through the AMBIDEX Task Learning project NAVER LABS teaches the robot \"physical intelligence\": motor skills people perform without thinking but find hard to describe, such as spreading jam or taking coins from a pocket. The concept comes from MIT professor Sangbae Kim, a NAVER LABS adviser.","Data is collected with a 1:1-scale haptic device that has 7 DoF per arm and bilateral teleoperation, passing force in both directions. Force data from a human demonstration serves as the learning reference, including for reinforcement learning, and NAVER LABS says the robot can perform a task on its own after a single demonstration."]},{"h":"Applications","p":["AMBIDEX is a research platform aimed at safe human-robot collaboration in homes and services. NAVER LABS has not announced sales or commercial deployments."]},{"h":"Manufacturer","p":["NAVER LABS is the research division of NAVER, South Korea's largest search and internet portal. It also develops service robots (the AROUND family, Rookie), data-centre robots (GaRo, SeRo), autonomous transport (ALT-B) and the ARC cloud robot control platform."]}],"timeline":[["2017-10","AMBIDEX arm unveiled at DEVIEW"],["2019-01","5G control demo with Qualcomm at CES 2019"],["2020-11","Version with waist and sensor head; Task Learning project"],["2022-03","Redesign of the full platform"]],"faq":[["Is AMBIDEX a humanoid?","It is a dual-arm robot with head, torso and waist but no legs, used for manipulation research."],["What makes AMBIDEX special?","Its cable drive: motors sit in the shoulder and torso, so the arms are light and safe around people."],["Can you buy AMBIDEX?","No, it is a NAVER LABS research platform."],["Who co-developed AMBIDEX?","KOREATECH, particularly Professor Yong-Jae Kim."]],"sources":[{"title":"AMBIDEX: Dual-arm robot with innovative mechanism for safe interaction with humans","publisher":"NAVER LABS","url":"https://www.naverlabs.com/en/ambidex","date":"2026"},{"title":"AMBIDEX, robot arm with innovative cable-driven mechanisms","publisher":"NAVER LABS","url":"https://www.naverlabs.com/en/blogDetail?seq=33674","date":"2017-10-16"},{"title":"NAVER's CES 2019 Booth Sketch & Demonstrations of AMBIDEX and AROUND G","publisher":"NAVER LABS","url":"https://www.naverlabs.com/en/blogDetail?seq=33743","date":"2019-01-09"},{"title":"Unveiling the AMBIDEX Task Learning Project and Delivery Robot AROUND D at 2020 Global Forum","publisher":"NAVER LABS","url":"https://www.naverlabs.com/en/blogDetail?seq=33863","date":"2020-11-11"},{"title":"AMBIDEX Design, Robot Movement, and Human Interaction","publisher":"NAVER LABS","url":"https://www.naverlabs.com/en/blogDetail?seq=33931","date":"2022-03-10"}],"updated":"2026-10-10"},"mera":{"rental_with_operator":false,"sale_in_offer":false,"availability":"confirmation_required","shop_url":null},"url":"https://merarobotics.com/blog/humanoids/naver-ambidex","inquiry_url":"https://merarobotics.com/en/start?service=purchase&robot=naver-ambidex"}