[Interview] Kim Youngjin, CEO of Tesollo: “Multi-Joint Robotic Hands Will Grip the Global Automation Market”

Korean robotic gripper specialist Tesollo is signaling a new wave of innovation for the era of physical AI, led by its multi-joint robotic hands. The company plans to accelerate commercialization of robotic hands through collaborations not only with major Korean conglomerates but also with overseas humanoid robot startups.

In a recent interview at the Gwangmyeong Industrial Knowledge Center (GIDC) in Gyeonggi Province, Tesollo CEO Kim Youngjin outlined his vision, saying, “By leveraging our strong advantage in AI data collection, we aim to strengthen our position in the robot automation market.”

Tesollo is a Korean robotic gripper specialist founded in 2019 by Kim, who previously researched robotic hands at the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH).

For physical AI to truly replace human labor, the role of the “hand” is paramount. Grippers are devices that enable robots to grasp and manipulate objects. Like human fingers, their joints move freely segment by segment, making delicate tasks on production lines possible.

At the beginning of this year, Tesollo successfully developed the humanoid multi-joint robotic hand “DG-5F (Delto Gripper-5F),” a human-like robotic hand featuring five fingers and a total of 20 active joints (20 degrees of freedom), just like a human hand. Among Tesollo’s lineup, it is the product that most closely approximates a real human hand, capable of complex precision tasks such as picking up and transporting objects.

Kim’s ambition is not to stop at research, but to firmly anchor these technologies in real industrial sites. Once commercialized, the DG-5F is expected to demonstrate its capabilities in sectors such as automotive parts, electronics manufacturing, and semiconductor processes.

“Right now, most of our transactions are still in the sample market,” Kim explained, “but we have already completed all the verification required for deployment on real production lines. We are also pushing for introduction into automotive production lines.”

From this year, Tesollo has also begun to seriously expand overseas. At CES 2025, held in Las Vegas last January, the company showcased the DG-5F and was selected for an Innovation Award in the Robotics category.

“Following CES 2025, we were able to achieve meaningful outcomes in meetings with U.S. humanoid robot developers and established research collaborations with Stanford University and ETH Zurich using our hand as a research platform,” Kim said. “As a result, we achieved 2 billion won in export sales this year.” He added, “We also plan to participate in CES 2026, where we will present our robotic hand products at the ‘K-Humanoid Alliance’ joint booth.”

Kim also expressed his determination to broaden Tesollo’s global footprint. The first step is to raise brand recognition in China, which currently leads the global robotics market, and then expand into Japan.

“We are operating three distributor locations in Beijing and Shanghai,” he said. “We are also working in collaboration with the Chinese company PND Robotics.”

Source: Aju Economy (Jung Yeon-woo, Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province)