VinDynamics, the humanoid robotics company within Vietnam’s Vingroup conglomerate, has signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with Skild AI, a Pittsburgh-based company developing foundation models for robotics. The agreement covers embodied AI research, robot manipulation, sim-to-real transfer, edge AI deployment, and validation of humanoid systems in real-world environments.
The partnership’s central technical objective is exploring integration of the Skild Brain – Skild AI’s omnibodied AI software designed to run directly on robotic hardware – into VinDynamics’ humanoid robot platform. Additional areas under discussion include knowledge exchange on robot intelligence and real-world deployment, software and model co-development, and potential cooperation on humanoid robot manufacturing at scale.
What Each Company Brings
VinDynamics was established in September 2025 as Vingroup’s dedicated humanoid robotics vehicle. Vingroup is one of Vietnam’s largest conglomerates, with operations spanning real estate, automotive manufacturing through VinFast, healthcare, and technology. VinDynamics brings robotics engineering capability, manufacturing infrastructure, and access to deployment environments across Vingroup’s commercial ecosystem – a combination that gives a hardware-focused robotics company built-in demand across hospitality, commercial services, and logistics in a rapidly growing Southeast Asian market.
Skild AI brings foundation model technology designed for cross-platform robot intelligence. The Skild Brain is built to run on-device rather than cloud-dependent, enhancing adaptability and reliability in operational environments with variable connectivity. The company was co-founded by Deepak Pathak, who has also been named as a participant in NVIDIA’s Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid Robot program as a research ecosystem partner.
“Skild AI brings the most exciting advances in embodied AI today,” said Prof. La Manh Hung, President of VinDynamics. “Combined with our robotics platform and manufacturing capabilities, we believe this partnership can accelerate the deployment of humanoid robots in complex environments.”
“VinDynamics brings strong engineering capabilities, manufacturing scale, and access to real-world deployment environments through the Vingroup ecosystem,” said Deepak Pathak, Co-Founder and CEO of Skild AI. “We are excited to work together to advance embodied AI for practical applications.”
Strategic Context
The partnership reflects the same software-hardware integration dynamic driving deals across the humanoid industry – foundation model companies like Skild AI need hardware partners with manufacturing capability and deployment reach, while hardware developers need AI platforms that can generalize across tasks without per-application programming. VinDynamics’ access to Vingroup’s operational infrastructure across Vietnam and Southeast Asia provides Skild AI with real-world deployment environments at a scale that most early-stage robotics partnerships do not offer.
The MOU is a framework agreement rather than a commercial deployment contract. The specific integration scope, hardware configurations, and deployment timeline remain under development, with manufacturing scale cooperation listed as a future discussion area rather than a near-term commitment.
