Inside the exhibition halls of Coex in southern Seoul on Tuesday, a bipedal humanoid robot swayed its arms to a K-pop beat. Across the room, another white robotic torso traded swift returns with a human opponent across a badminton net while robot fighters wearing oversized red and blue headgear sparred inside a miniature boxing ring. The spectacle marked the opening of Smart Life Week (SLW) 2026, a tech-driven smart city expo hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Running through Thursday under the theme “Designing Life with AI,” the exhibition brings together 529 participating firms, public institutions and city governments to showcase how artificial intelligence (AI) is shifting from digital screens into physical reality. This year’s event placed heavy emphasis on robotics and “physical AI,” which is capable of sensing, navigating and acting in physical environments alongside humans. At the miniature boxing ring, which drew a large crowd of onlookers, the two fighting robots marched to the center as directed by an emcee, waving to spectators before the opening bell ran