PIBOT takes the wheel on a South Korean warship trial

South Korea’s Navy tested for the first time a humanoid robot that is replacing a sailor at a ship’s wheel. Steering duties were taken over by a KAIST-built machine called PIBOT.

The military is looking for ways to keep warships running with fewer people. The trial is significant because the country’s shrinking population and declining birth rate are draining the pool of draft-age recruits on which the Navy depends.

A humanoid robot answers helm orders in Changwon

The test was conducted at the Naval Education and Training Command’s ship handling facility in Changwon. That’s in South Gyeongsang Province, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

The Navy announced the trial Friday. “Port five degrees, hold course 330,” an officer aboard a simulated Aegis destroyer called out. PIBOT repeated the order, grabbed the wheel and confirmed, “Holding course 330.”

PIBOT uses a large language model to process verbal commands and repeats each command before executing it. It’s the readback, how a human helmsman would confirm an order, and catch miscommunication before it happens.

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