Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering (KRISO)
Daejeon government ship and ocean research institute behind the Crabster seabed walking robot, an R&D USV and a 3,500 m deep-sea ROV/AUV coring system.
The Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering (KRISO) is South Korea's national research institute for ships, offshore plants and maritime engineering, headquartered in Daedeok Innopolis, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon. It traces its origins to the Research Institute of Ships, established in October 1973 as an affiliate of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, and after several reorganisations it was re-established on 1 January 2014 as an institute affiliated with the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST). As of December 2025 it reported 220 regular employees (110 researchers, 50 technical and 41 administrative staff, plus non-regular and unlimited-contract staff). Besides the Daejeon campus, completed in 1978, KRISO operates a Seawater Energy Plant Research Center in Goseong, an Offshore Industries R&BD Center in Geoje, a Deep Ocean Engineering Research Center in Busan with a 100 x 50 x 15 m deep-ocean engineering basin and 50 m deep pit, an Autonomous Ship Verification and Evaluation Research Center in Ulsan, an Alternative Fuels and Power System Research Center, and a KRISO Europe Center.
KRISO's research is organised around ship performance and eco-friendly ships, offshore plant technology, advanced maritime equipment and ICT convergence, and maritime transport and accident response. Marine robotics sits in the maritime equipment programme, whose stated topics include robot fleets for maritime search, monitoring and surveillance, a commercial underwater robot platform for polar sub-glacial exploration, intelligent maritime robot technology, sonar imaging for remote underwater target detection, underwater acoustic communication, and cyber-physical and digital-twin operation of maritime robots. A hyperbaric chamber supports pressure testing of underwater structures, sensors and thrusters.
Its best-known vehicle is Crabster (CR200), a six-legged seabed walking robot of about 700 kg designed to work in strong tidal currents and murky water using sonar and acoustic cameras. Crabster began sea trials in 2013 and in April-May 2014 was deployed during the Sewol ferry disaster, where it was launched 13 times and spent 15 hours and 36 minutes underwater surveying the wreck site. That walking-robot line continues in a crab-shaped autonomous mine-detection and clearance robot that can both walk on the seabed and swim, with a front manipulator to attach a disposal charge to a moored mine's mooring line. KRISO develops the platform, Hanwha Systems the sensor-based underwater environment recognition and LIG Defense & Aerospace the autonomous mission and motion planning, in coordination with a Republic of Korea Navy mine countermeasures unit; a quarter-scale model was shown at UWC X CIMEX in Seoul in August 2026, with the project due to finish in 2027 ahead of prototype sea trials. The robot uses underwater acoustic communication with about 1 km effective range and can also be operated by tether. KRISO also displayed an autonomous R&D USV launched in 2022 that performs route following, station keeping, obstacle avoidance and target detection and is being developed as a mothership for aerial drones and unmanned underwater vehicles.
In June 2026 KRISO began leading a government programme, with nine participating organisations including Seoul National University and KAIST, to develop by 2030 an integrated unmanned system for deep-sea mineral exploration at depths of up to 3,500 m: a tracked ROV that drives over rough seabed terrain and performs core drilling, a landing-type AUV that monitors turbidity, noise and light generated by drilling, and shipboard and onshore remote-operation technology with 3D visualisation. KRISO describes it as the first system to combine deep-sea core drilling and environmental monitoring.
Beyond robotics, KRISO works on autonomous ships, ISO standardisation for maritime autonomous surface ships, SMR-powered ship concepts, alternative-fuel propulsion, polar shipping technology and ocean thermal and deep-seawater energy. It cooperates with the Republic of Korea Navy, KIMST, the UK's National Physical Laboratory, Lloyd's Register and the Technical University of Denmark, including on marine robotics.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
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Contact Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering (KRISO)
WEBSITE
https://www.kriso.re.kr/PHONE
+82 42 866 3114HEADQUARTERS
Korea, Republic of (South)
Company Facts
Founded
1973
Primary Role
Research Institute
Company Size
-
Primary Region
Asia-Pacific
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
Subsidiary / Acquired
Funding Total
-
Keywords
- Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering (KRISO)
- Crabster
- seabed walking robot
- mine countermeasures robot
- deep-sea core drilling
- ocean engineering basin
- autonomous ship
- underwater acoustic communication
- marine robotics research
- polar underwater robot
- Research Institute
- Unmanned Marine Vehicle
- ROV
- AUV
- USV
- Subsea
- Education & Research
- Defense & Security
- Oil
- Gas & Energy
