[Unmanned Era] Taking Orders, Cooking, Serving, and Payment... All Done by Robots

<Top>How Far Has Automation Progressed?

Over 730 Unmanned Checkout Counters Operated in 83% of Emart Stores
Convenience Store Changes Accelerate... 612 GS25 Unmanned Stores

An image of RoboArte's robotic arm cooking chicken. Photo by Asia Economy DB

A robotic arm lifts a basket filled with chicken and dips it into frying oil. While the chicken fries to a golden brown, the basket is occasionally shaken. After a set time, the robotic arm lifts the finished chicken basket, shakes off the oil, and places it on a plate?all done entirely by the robot arm. Nearby, another robot moves its long arms freely to start making delicious coffee. About 1 minute and 30 seconds later, the coffee made by the robot comes out through the dispenser. The completed chicken and coffee are then placed on a tray by a delivery robot with two round eyes and handed to the customer. From entering the store and ordering via a payment kiosk to receiving the food, the entire process is assisted by robots. Just 10 years ago, robots making coffee and delivering pizza were considered science fiction. However, due to social distancing and business restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, contactless and unmanned services have become the norm. Coupled with rising minimum wages and increased labor costs, the trend toward automation is accelerating. This article examines the current status and future prospects of unmanned stores becoming commonplace not only in the domestic retail industry but also worldwide.

[Asia Economy Reporters Moon Hyewon and Lim Chunhan] The spread of contactless shopping trends due to COVID-19 and the sharp rise in minimum wages have accelerated automation. The retail industry is seeing widespread adoption of kiosks (unmanned ordering machines) and the emergence of fully unmanned stores equipped with cutting-edge ICT.

◆ Disappearing supermarket cashiers... convenience stores transforming = According to industry sources on the 29th, Emart operates about 730 unmanned checkout machines across 115 stores, accounting for approximately 83% of its nationwide outlets. Since introducing 16 machines in January 2018, the number has rapidly increased over three years. Lotte Mart also uses about 590 unmanned checkout machines in 58 of its 113 stores nationwide, starting with the opening of its Yangpyeong branch in April 2017. Homeplus has introduced around 390 unmanned checkout machines in 88 of its 138 stores nationwide.

The convenience store industry is evolving even faster. GS25 increased its unmanned stores from 589 last year to 612 as of last month. Among these, 570 are hybrid stores and 42 are fully unmanned stores. The company plans to expand by more than 200 stores by the end of this year. CU operates 300 hybrid stores, Seven Eleven 190, and Emart24 1,300. Each is piloting one fully unmanned store.

Fully unmanned stores apply technologies such as biometric recognition, QR codes, LiDAR cameras, and weight sensors, enabling automatic payment when customers select and leave with products. Currently, these stores are in pilot stages and mostly set up in closed environments like company headquarters.

Representative examples include GS25’s ‘Self All Day,’ CU’s ‘Tech Friendly,’ and Seven Eleven’s ‘DT Lab Store.’ Emart24 opened a fully smart store accessible to general customers last September at COEX Starfield in Seoul. In this store, an AI chatbot guides customers on product locations and promotional events instead of staff. If an abnormal situation is detected, an initial voice alert is issued, and if the situation persists for 10 seconds, notifications are sent to managers and the control center. Convenience stores are also considering introducing delivery robots. Seven Eleven increased its autonomous delivery robots ‘Newbie’ from one at Seocho I-Park store last year to three this year and is experimenting with commercializing short-distance delivery services. GS25 has completed business feasibility tests for delivery robots and is reviewing commercialization within the year.

Serving robot installed in No Brand Burger store.

◆ Robots handling cooking, serving, and payment... accelerating in the food service industry = Recently, unmanned stores have expanded into the food service sector. Unmanned food service stores feature systems where ordering, payment, and food preparation are all handled by machines.

Baedal Minjok, which first introduced serving robot rental services in 2019, currently operates about 630 serving robots in over 500 stores. Each device delivers around 2,000 food orders monthly, averaging 6 hours of operation daily. Emart No Brand introduced a semi-automatic burger cooking system and serving robots in 2020. Using automated rails to heat buns and meat patties reduces burger preparation time, and serving robots deliver food to customers. Lotte GRS opened the unmanned Lotte L7 Hongdae store last year. After ordering via kiosk, robots handle burger preparation, and customers pick up their orders using receipt barcodes. SPC’s Baskin Robbins has been operating the unmanned store ‘Flow’ since late last year. Although it looks like a regular store, kiosks and IoT unmanned solutions are implemented so that no staff need to be present during packaging and payment.

Chicken franchises are utilizing robots for cooking and delivery. Kyochon Chicken introduced collaborative robots that can work in the same space as humans and physically interact with them. Nene Chicken is also deploying delivery robots in Seoul and the metropolitan area through collaboration with the delivery robot platform Newbility.

Newbee, the autonomous delivery robot of Seven Eleven.

According to the ‘Food Tech Robot Trends’ report published by the Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement, the food tech market combining AI, big data, IoT, and robots with food is expected to reach $3.1 billion (approximately 3.773 trillion KRW) by 2025. Domestic growth is projected at an annual average of 12-14%.

Professor Lee Eunhee of Inha University’s Department of Consumer Studies said, "Companies can reduce costs such as labor expenses, and consumers can shop comfortably. Although the acceleration of unmanned stores was triggered by COVID-19, the preference for contactless services is becoming clear. This trend will continue going forward."