Hyundai Motor Group's robots made a visit to a BTS concert in Busan. A meeting between the global artist BTS and Spot, the 'idol of the robot world'. Here's the story.

Following a special video presented at a concert featuring 7 Spot units and Atlas, the humanoid robot, dancing to a song from BTS, the enamored “ARMY (BTS’s official fanclub) Spot” captured its journey to Busan using Spot, with the help of the service robot ‘DAL-E’ and the compact mobility platform ‘MobED’.

Spot made a surprise appearance on stage to the delight of the audience, and escorted members of BTS from the waiting room to the stage, further adding to the lively atmosphere. The scene was relayed via JTBC, Japan's TBD Channel 1, the global fandom platform ‘Weverse’, ZEPETO Naver Now, and other media platforms, providing an opportunity to showcase the outstanding robot technology of the Hyundai Motor Group.

In fact, this was not even the first meeting between BTS and Hyundai Motor Groups’ robots. As the global brand ambassadors of Hyundai Motor Company, BTS has previously released IONIQ brand albums, promoted global hydrogen campaign, and held other activities including shooting a dancing video with Spot and Atlas. They also recently released an album promoting the ‘Goal of the Century’ campaign.

Following the official sponsoring of the 2022 FIFA World Cup™, Hyundai Motors launched The Goal of the Century campaign to create a sustainable earth. Just like players in a soccer team must work as one to score that one goal, the message of the campaign is to get everyone’s participation in achieving the goal of sustainability.

Hyundai Motors has previously stated it will achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 throughout its brand's value chain. The goal is to not be limited by mobility merely as modes of transportation, but to be able to establish a circular economy ecosystem for a sustainable future. FIFA is also recognizing the necessity in the sustainable operation of the World Cup™, demonstrating its strong commitment to a zero-carbon tournament.

Hyundai Motors launched the ‘Team Century’ to support the Goal of the Century campaign. Team Century is composed of individuals whose influence are considered to be positive. Steven Gerrard from the U.K. holds the position of team leader, while figures from the soccer world including former South Korean national team captain Ji-Sung Park, Denmark’s Nadia Nadim and figures outside such fields including fashion designer Jeremy Scott, contemporary artist Lorenzo Quinn, and Boston Dynamic’s robot Spot are currently active as members of the team. BTS has also previously released an official campaign album as supporters of Team Century.

The Hyundai Motor Group’s promotion booth at the BTS Busan concert also showed its careful consideration for publicizing Goal of the Century. Goal of the Century campaign t-shirts actually worn by BTS members were displayed to seamlessly advertise the campaign to fans visiting the concert venue, and visitors to the booth were given eco bags with the BTS Team Century logo and the MobED character.

This collaboration between BTS and the robots allowed Hyundai Motors to widely publicize its visions for future robotics while simultaneously and organically promoting the Goal of the Century campaign. Hyundai Motors has also been hosting an exhibition at the ‘Hyundai Motor Studio Busan’ about the campaign before the concert, since the 6th of the previous month.

Above all, this collaboration with BTS and their strong worldwide fanbase was especially meaningful in that it promoted the cultural competitiveness of Busan as a candidate city for the World Expo. Hyundai Motor Group is currently undergoing various activities for the Busan World Expo 2030. As of August last year, Hyundai Motor Group was the first major domestic company to set up a group-level task force dedicated to supporting the Busan World Expo 2030, and is currently carrying out various activities to attract support from the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE).

The group has been actively drumming up an environment promoting the Busan World Expo 2030, examples of which includes inviting high-ranking officials from 10 nations to the Hyundai Motor Studio Busan last July, explaining the competitiveness of Busan as the host to the World Expo 2030 and further requesting support from each country. The group has also shown official promotion videos at the Hyundai Motors/Kia booth during the Busan International Motor Show.

The World Expo Busan is preparing to host is considered to be an “economic and cultural Olympic’, introducing industries, science and technologies, as well as other achievements of humanity. There have previously been two World Expos hosted in Korea: the Daejeon World Expo in 1993 and Yeosu World Expo in 2012. However, these expos were “Recognized Exhibitions”, meaning they were only focused on specific themes, as opposed to a Registered Exhibition that is the Busan World Expo, with a wide range of themes.

If Busan City is able to host the World Expo 2030, South Korea will become the 7th nation to host all 3 major international events: the World’s Fairs, the Olympics, and the World Cup. Currently, only France, U.S., Canada, Japan, Germany, and Italy have hosted all three events. Hosting the Busan World Expo 2030 is expected to elevate Korea’s national standing as a powerhouse of smart innovation.

The scope of the collaboration between BTS and Hyundai Motors goes beyond the mere fusion of culture and technology, reaching to that of Korea’s international status and a sustainable Earth. It was designed to showcase the synergy of good influences from each individual. Such efforts have become the foundation for our surrounding environment, and allows us to have hopes and expectations for a better future.