[Robots Are Coming] ① Robots Leaving Factories... Hobby: Cooking, Specialty: Delivery

Service Robot Adoption Soars... Penetrating Daily Life
Baemin Delivery Robot Expands 'Door-to-Door' Service... Integrated with Elevator Systems
Delivery Robots Seen in Gangnam 3 Districts... 'Chicken Robots' Also Fierce Competition

[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] #When a customer requests room service, a delivery robot delivers food, towels, and more to the room door instead of staff. The robot can freely use the elevator by pressing buttons with its robotic arm on top of its body and can also knock on the door in front of the room. Henna Hotel in Myeongdong, Seoul, is considering adding more robots as customer satisfaction with the delivery robot service is high. This delivery robot, standing 120cm tall with an octagonal body draped in a Halloween cape and a monitor face, is quite popular. Hiroyuki Dateishi, manager of Henna Hotel Myeongdong, said, "Some customers even wait to be served by the delivery robot when it leaves its spot to provide service." He explained, "We can provide 24-hour room service, which has also reduced the burden on our staff." Henna Hotel introduced this delivery robot from the robot developer Robotis last August.

The fields where service robots are used are rapidly increasing. This is due to the increased demand for contactless services since COVID-19. Robots are moving beyond their traditional main use in factories and are now penetrating everyday life in earnest.

The indoor delivery robot 'Jipgaemi' by Robotis deployed at Henna Hotel in Myeongdong, Seoul. It can freely use the elevator by pressing buttons with the robotic arm on top of its body and can also knock on the door in front of the room.
[Photo by Junhyung Lee]

Baemin Robot Now Delivers to the ‘Doorstep’

Woowa Brothers, the operator of Baedal Minjok (Baemin), plans to expand the service of its autonomous delivery robot ‘Dilly Drive’ to door-to-door delivery as early as this month. Dilly Drive picks up food at the delivery location and delivers it to the customer's doorstep by using elevators and more. Since August last year, Woowa Brothers has been conducting a pilot service by deploying about 20 delivery robots in the mixed-use apartment complex ‘Gwanggyo Alleyway’ in Suwon.

Originally, Dilly Drive had limitations in using elevators. The robot lacked arms to press buttons, and there were high technical barriers to integrating with elevator systems. Customers had to come down to the first floor of the apartment or the complex plaza to receive their food. However, Woowa Brothers collaborated with Hyundai Development Company, the builder of Gwanggyo Alleyway, to integrate the delivery robot with elevator and access control systems. A Woowa Brothers official stated, "To integrate with elevator systems, we signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with Daelim Construction, Hanwha Construction, and Hyundai Elevator," adding, "The indoor delivery robot ‘Dilly Tower’ deployed at Gwanghwamun D Tower already provides elevator rides without any issues."

Since August last year, Woowa Brothers have been conducting a pilot service by deploying about 20 delivery robots in the mixed-use residential complex "Gwanggyo Alleyway" in Suwon Gwanggyo.
[Photo by Woowa Brothers]

Other delivery robot companies are also actively expanding their services. Delivery robot startup Newbility will deploy five AI delivery robots (named Newbee) in the three Gangnam districts of Seoul (Seocho, Gangnam, Songpa) starting from the 15th of this month. Newbee will provide delivery robot services centered around one Seven-Eleven convenience store franchise located in the Gangnam districts. Newbility plans to gradually increase the number of service stores within the Gangnam districts based on consumer response.

Chicken Robots Expand Territory... “Service Robot Adoption Accelerates”

Service robot adoption is also active in other fields. Food tech startup RoboArte, which makes ‘chicken robots,’ is a representative example. RoboArte operates the collaborative robot brand ‘Robert Chicken’ that cooks chicken. After opening its first directly managed store in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, in February last year, it opened its fifth store last month. The company plans to open its sixth directly managed store near Sadang Station on Seoul Subway Line 4 around mid-next month. The daily sales of existing stores range from 1 to 1.5 million KRW. Considering that the store sizes range from as small as 33㎡ (10 pyeong) to as large as 50㎡ (15 pyeong) and can be operated by one or two employees, the profits are quite substantial. In the market, startups like Botdak and Dtteok are competing in the chicken robot sector. The chicken franchise Kyochon Chicken has also recently entered robot development.

Pizza franchise Go Pizza's pizza robot 'GoBot Plus' is cutting a pizza that just came out of the smart oven.
[Photo by Joonhyung Lee]

Experts predict that service robots will steadily expand into various fields. Jaekwon Han, a professor of robotics at Hanyang University, said, "Investments in contactless services have rapidly progressed due to COVID-19," and analyzed, "There are economic benefits such as labor cost reduction, so the adoption of service robots will accelerate in many fields requiring contactless services, such as hotels and hospitals."