WIM Robotics wins two Asan awards and eyes U.S. pilots

Daegu-based robotics startup WIM Robotics received the Excellence Award and the People's Choice Award in the Global Track of the 2026 Asan Jung Ju-yung Startup Competition, held at COEX in Seoul on October 28, KoreaTechDesk reports. According to the company's October 29 announcement, the prizes were KRW 20 million and KRW 1 million, respectively. koreatechdesk.com

Awards in Seoul and earlier competitions

The competition, organized by the Asan Nanum Foundation, brought together 15 finalists in four categories: Global, Climate Tech, Newcomer and Beginner. About 1,800 people attended, and total prizes came to KRW 370 million. koreatechdesk.com The Global Track was for startups planning expansion into the U.S. market. Evaluation covered U.S. market potential, differentiation, market validation and execution capabilities. The Global Track Grand Prize went to Versework, which develops an ecosystem linking games, user-generated content and creators. koreatechdesk.com

For WIM it was the third international recognition in just over a month. On September 22 the company was named among the Top 10 startups at the NVIDIA Inception Grand Challenge 2026 Asia-Pacific finals in Singapore. On October 6 it took first place at the pitch competition of AWS and NVIDIA during San Francisco Tech Week. According to Electronic Times, WIM competed against five other finalists chosen from more than 100 applicants, and the prize was USD 25,000 in AWS cloud credits. koreatechdesk.com

U.S. market entry and pilots

On April 21 the Asan Nanum Foundation announced WIM's selection for the 2026 Asan Voyager accelerator. Ten companies were chosen, with roughly 16 applicants per place. WIM took part in the Asan Voyager Silicon Valley camp on May 19–29 at MARU SF and, according to its company presentation, set up a U.S. subsidiary in June 2026. koreatechdesk.com

On October 19 the University of Chicago's Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation named WIM among 30 semifinalists for the second cohort of Alchemist Chicago. The company attended the October 19–23 bootcamp and on October 23 met officials of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. koreatechdesk.com

WIM develops the W-RC robot controller and the PLEM software platform for real-time robot control. In an interview, CEO William Woojin Jun said that after several weeks in San Francisco the team came back with a fix that now ships in PLEM and with several conversations that have moved toward partnerships and pilots. koreatechdesk.com "Winning awards doesn't mean we've succeeded as a business. We still have much more to prove through real customers, revenue, and great products," he said. koreatechdesk.com

WIM Robotics wins two Asan awards in Seoul after Singapore and San Francisco prizes

Awards in Seoul and earlier competitions

U.S. market entry and pilots

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