Unichem Acquires Loomia to Accelerate Entry into Humanoid 'Skin' Market
Materials company Unichem Co. has acquired Loomia Technologies Inc. to enter the market for 'electronic skin' for humanoids, as well as the market for interior materials for smart mobility.
A materials company has made a significant move to enter the market for 'electronic skin' for humanoids and interior materials for smart mobility.
Unichem Co. has acquired Loomia Technologies Inc. to accelerate its entry into the humanoid 'skin' market. Loomia is a flexible electronics maker that has previously partnered with R&Y Corp. to jointly develop and mass-produce next-generation tactile sensors for robots.
## Loomia's Technology and Partnerships
Loomia's proprietary LEL (Loomia Electronic Layer) technology allows for flexible bonding of electronic circuits to cloth and leather. The company has overcome the disconnection issue during bending, a drawback of traditional printed electronics, with its non-printed, low-resistance mesh technology.
Loomia is a member of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Human AugmentatioN via Dexterity Engineering Research Center (HAND ERC). The tactile sensing consortium also includes Meta and Amazon Robotics. Loomia has worked with industrial automation and robotic hand provider Festo and has launched its first tactile sensing developer kit, which is currently sold out.
## Unichem's Plans and Acquisition Details
Unichem, a natural leather goods manufacturer, plans to integrate its 50 years of leather-processing infrastructure with Loomia's ultra-thin, flexible LEL technology. The company has secured 100% of Loomia's shares for about 8.6 billion won ($6 million U.S.), which is equivalent to 6.5% of the capital. The transaction amount will be paid in installments with a diversified structure, including $4 million in cash, $1 million in Unichem common stock, and $1 million in earn-out claw-backs.
Unichem expects to complete the acquisition process on Oct. 15 through a reverse triangular merger with a newly established Unichem subsidiary. The company plans to retain all key engineers as part of Unichem's North American research and development and U.S. market-entry hub.
## R&Y's Co-Development and Manufacturing Capabilities
R&Y Corp. is a global Tier 1 automotive technology and manufacturing company with a market capitalization of more than $1 billion and over 2,000 employees worldwide. It has operations in Bösel, Germany; Wixom, Mich.; and Changzhou, China. R&Y provides co-development, engineering, and production capabilities spanning precision machining, injection molding and tooling, printed electronics, dielectrics, and simulation.
R&Y is expanding into humanoid robotics and electronic skin technologies and is co-developing a product with Loomia to simultaneously detect both existing vertical pressure and shear force. This technology is essential for haptic gloves for collecting data for robot training and for humanoids that need to handle objects with human-like precision.
| Company | Market Capitalization | Employees | Operations | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | R&Y Corp. | Over $1 billion | Over 2,000 | Bösel, Germany; Wixom, Mich.; Changzhou, China |
## Unichem's Vision and Future Plans
Unichem has envisioned a blueprint to move beyond being a simple automotive interior material manufacturer and become a 'smart materials platform company' that combines technology and materials. The company plans to link Loomia's core technology with R&Y's manufacturing capabilities and Unichem's experience processing high-performance materials.
Unichem expects to expand the technology proven in automobiles to the hands and electronic skins of humanoid robots, medical devices, and data center thermal management fields. The company has already received a significant order from Volkswagen for next-generation seat-heating systems, which has raised expectations for an explosive shift to mass production utilizing Unichem's Korean infrastructure.
