A Visionary Fusion of Nature, Technology, and Public Life

The 2025 Seocho AI·Robot Public Service Competition is more than a design contest—it's a cultural innovation platform. Hosted by Seocho District in collaboration with Hyundai-Kia Robotics Lab and the Gaudí Foundation, this competition invites participants to propose AI and robotics-based public service ideas for Seocho Culture and Arts Park, a nature-infused civic space in the heart of Seoul.

This year’s theme, “Back to the Origin”, challenges participants to rethink urban public service through Gaudí’s nature-inspired design lens and Hyundai-Kia’s cutting-edge robotics technologies.

🧭 Why This Matters

In the face of increasingly homogenized urban environments, decreasing green spaces, and growing technological distrust, this competition seeks to reimagine what public spaces can and should feel like.

🔹 Problem 1: The Homogenized Cityscape

Rapid urbanization in Korea has led to a loss of architectural identity and emotional connection in cities. Parks must counteract this trend by offering more than greenery—they should deliver human warmth, aesthetic delight, and cultural diversity.

🔹 Problem 2: Disconnection from Nature

Korea’s urban centers lack spaces that allow people to reconnect with natural rhythms. This contest asks: How can AI and robots bring people closer to nature, not isolate them further?

🔹 Problem 3: Cold Tech, Warm World

Seocho, Korea’s first official AI Innovation District, must navigate how to earn public trust in emerging technologies. We believe that AI and robotics, if emotionally resonant and beautifully integrated, can be tools of humanization—not alienation.

🌿 Why Gaudí? Why Robotics?

Gaudí didn’t just decorate with nature—he designed with its logic. Inspired by biomimicry, his work evoked wonder while serving practical human needs. Hyundai-Kia Robotics Lab takes a similar approach with AI: blending form, function, and feeling.

In this competition, you're not designing "machines." You're designing living public services—animated, empathetic, functional sculptures that respond to how people move, gather, and feel in shared space.

🧩 Design Dimensions

Participants are encouraged to explore diverse creative scopes:

• Infrastructure – How robots are embedded in civic systems
• Form – Sculptural and architectural aesthetics
• Service Scenarios – Operational logic and user stories
• UX Design – Touchpoints and emotional impact
• Robotics & AI – Tech integration inspired by Hyundai-Kia’s capabilities

🎯 Goals

• Design public services that resonate emotionally and practically with urban users
• Create seamless harmony between humans, robots, and nature
• Turn robots into social sculptures—functional, symbolic, aesthetic
• Develop a landmark for the future of urban coexistence

🛠 Tools and Creative Resources

Participants are encouraged to leverage AI and design tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, Runway, Figma AI, Blender, Arduino, and more to develop, visualize, and narrate their ideas. Special emphasis is placed on documenting the creative use of AI in your process.

🏞 About Seocho Culture and Arts Park

Located within the Yangjae Civic Forest, this park is a living example of urban regeneration and cultural vitality. With its mix of natural elements, performance spaces, and public programming, it’s the perfect canvas for future-oriented robotics experiments that complement—not compete with—daily life.

🧪 Judging Criteria

• Contextual originality – Is the design innovative and well-fitted to the park?
• People-first design – Is it accessible, emotionally resonant, and easy to use?
• Gaudí-inspired narrative – Is it beautiful, symbolic, and regenerative?
• Tech integration – Did you leverage AI/robotics thoughtfully and clearly?
• Presentation quality – Is it visually compelling and well-organized?
• Feasibility – Is the design realistic and responsibly grounded?
• Cultural sustainability – Will it age well and enrich public memory?

🏆 Prizes

• Grand Prize – KRW 3,000,000 + Mayor’s Award
• Excellence Award – KRW 2,000,000
• Honorable Mentions (x3) – KRW 1,000,000 each

📅 Key Dates

Main Dates: July 11, 2025 (Fri) ~ September 18, 2025 (Mo9)

• Announcement and application period: 2025.7.11. ~ 9.18.
• 1st result announcement: September 30, 2025.
• Presentation submission: Oct. 1, 2025 ~ Oct. 14, 2025.
• Presentations and awards: October 19, 2025.

‍🎙️Webinar

A total of 3 webinars will be held to help you understand the contest.

There are also real-time Q&A with experts in each field, so please pay attention and participate.

✨ Final Thought

This is not a call to build more machines. It’s an invitation to rebuild meaning in the public realm—to create robotic art that listens, learns, and lives alongside us.

Let technology serve humanity. Let public service feel human again.

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