Delivery robots set to become integral part of everyday life in Korea

Kakao Mobility Corp.‘s robot in its company café [Photo provided by Kakao Mobility]

Large Korean platform companies continue to deploy delivery robots in specific spaces such as office buildings and large shopping malls. While these are still experimental, experts say it won’t be long before we see self-driving robots in every aspect of our lives.

Kakao Mobility Corp., a subsidiary of Kakao Corp., announced on Wednesday that it has started an indoor delivery service using robots in its company café. While Kakao Corp. operates the largest taxi-hailing platform in Korea, Kakao Mobility’s entry into the robot delivery service is the first of its kind for the company.

The new service works by allowing Kakao Mobility employees to order drinks through an app, after which a delivery robot brings the ordered drinks to the employee’s office.

The robot platform was developed by Kakao Mobility as an intermediary between the ordering app and LG Electronics’ robot CLOi, which handles the necessary technology and delivery operations. The platform standardizes delivery orders in a form that robots can understand based on service type, while handling delivery planning, routing, robot control and data analysis needed for service operation.

Kakao Mobility said that the platform allows for complex services or bundle delivery, and it can help introduce robot delivery even in buildings that lack robot-friendly infrastructure.

Kakao Mobility plans to apply high-precision mapping technology to its robot platform, allowing B2B customers looking to introduce robot services to quickly build high-precision maps optimized for each building environment and have them updated automatically.

Naver Corp.’s new building 1784 [Courtesy of Naver]

Another platform giant Naver Corp. has already been using its delivery service robot, Rookie, for internal use since last year. More than 100 Rookies are stationed in Naver’s new building 1784 to deliver packages, drinks and lunch to employees on all floors.

Local telecom companies are joining this market at relatively early stages, with SK telecom Co. and KT Corp. launching their own autonomous robot services. SK telecom recently began a pilot project for an artificially intelligent-powered patrol robot on the campus of Duksung Women’s University in Seoul.

KT is testing outdoor delivery robots, expanding its services to camping sites and other areas. The telcos are primarily focused on offering various service robots for consumers to use for a monthly fee, similar to mobile phone or internet plans.

The telecom companies are partnering with existing robot manufacturers such as LG Electronics to provide robot services and they aim to provide services or platforms that make it easy for consumers to utilize robots like communications and AI and to expand robot adoption through existing distribution channels, said Yang Seung-yoon, senior analyst at Eugene Investment.