Baedal Minjok Launches Outdoor Robot Delivery Pilot Service at Mixed-Use Apartment Complex 'Gwanggyo Alleyway'
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] A delivery robot service that delivers food between restaurants and apartments outdoors has become a reality. Woowa Brothers (CEO Kim Beom-jun), which operates Baedal Minjok (hereinafter Baemin), announced on the 18th that it has started a pilot service using the outdoor autonomous delivery robot 'Dilly Drive' at the mixed-use apartment complex 'Gwanggyo Alleyway' in Suwon Gwanggyo.
The outdoor delivery robot service introduced at Gwanggyo Alleyway is available to both residents and visitors. Residents of the 1,100 households in the apartment and officetel can open the Baemin app at home, scan a QR code, and select and order menus from restaurants and cafes within the complex. Orders can also be placed by scanning QR codes attached to outdoor tables in the plaza within the complex.
Once an order is received, a total of five robots called 'Dilly Drive' begin delivery operations. Dilly Drive stays at a station (waiting area) set up within the complex and autonomously moves to the restaurant. When the restaurant staff places the food in Dilly Drive and presses the start button, it delivers to the customer's location. Customers can check the real-time location of Dilly Drive through the Baemin app. Dilly Drive sends notification messages to the orderer 100 meters before arrival and after arrival. The orderer can receive the food at the designated locations on the first floor of each apartment building or at the outdoor tables in the plaza.
The Dilly Drive introduced at Gwanggyo Alleyway has evolved one step from the model tested last year at Konkuk University, with a newly equipped remote control function. It runs on six wheels at a speed of 4 to 5 km/h, similar to a walking pace. It can operate for more than 8 hours on a single charge and is equipped with lights for nighttime driving. It can deliver about six lunchboxes or twelve drinks at a time.
Woowa Brothers has also prepared various measures to ensure the safe operation of Dilly Drive. They have checked the movement paths and road surface conditions of people within the complex one by one, designing the robot to operate at low speed in areas with many people or where children frequently pass. At crosswalks used by vehicles, the robot stops first, and a video surveillance system installed within the complex controls the robot in real time to enhance safety. During August, the first month of service, it operates only on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Operating hours will gradually be extended.
The outdoor robot delivery service through Dilly Drive is expected to become a new source of income for restaurant and cafe owners. Until now, ultra-short-distance delivery was often avoided due to the burden of delivery fees. Robots can perform short-distance deliveries at about half the cost of existing delivery fees. Woowa Brothers plans to further advance the technology level of outdoor delivery robots. Currently, Dilly Drive can autonomously drive from the restaurant to the first floor of the apartment, but by the first half of next year, it plans to introduce a service that delivers to the front door of each household.
Kim Yo-seop, head of the Robot Business Division at Woowa Brothers, said, "Outdoor robot delivery services face overwhelmingly more factors that interfere with normal robot operation, such as road surface, obstacles, weather, and unexpected situations, compared to indoor environments, so precise technology and service know-how must be combined for commercialization." He added, "Woowa Brothers will continue to develop robot delivery services and create an advanced delivery ecosystem."
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