[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Naver unveiled its second headquarters building, '1784,' which began construction in 2016, on the 14th. As the world's first robot-friendly building, 1784 serves as Naver's workspace and a technology testbed that encompasses and integrates all of Naver's advanced technologies in robotics, autonomous driving, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud computing, driving future growth engines.
The name 1784 was derived from the building's original project name, based on its address at 178-4 Jeongja-dong, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province. Historically, 1784 marks the beginning of the First Industrial Revolution, symbolizing a space where innovation becomes reality. The building houses not only Naver employees but also researchers from the KAIST-NAVER Hypercreative AI Center and staff from startups invested in by D2SF.
With eight basement floors and 28 above ground, the building includes various amenities such as an affiliated clinic. The clinic, located on the 4th floor and spanning approximately 300 pyeong, supports departments including rehabilitation medicine, family medicine, otolaryngology, urology, health checkup consultations, and internal medicine. Naver Clova’s technology is utilized here. The robot research lab, previously located in Jukjeon, has relocated to the 1st and 2nd floors, where diverse robotics research is conducted.
Robots Roaming Throughout the Space... Advanced Robot Development
1784 itself is a testbed for all technologies Naver is researching or has accumulated. First, within 1784, there is a robot named ‘Rookie’ that navigates the building to provide various convenience services such as deliveries to employees. Rookie is a brainless robot based on cloud, 5G, and digital twin technologies, developed on Naver Labs’ autonomous driving robot platform 'AROUND.' Starting with parcel delivery, Rookie plans to expand services across various hubs within 1784, including lunchboxes and cafes.
As 1784 was constructed as a robot-friendly building, specialized infrastructure for robots is installed throughout the interior. Key features include ▲ARC (AI·ROBOT·CLOUD), a cloud-based multi-robot intelligence system integrated with building infrastructure, ▲‘ROBOPORT,’ the world’s first robot-exclusive elevator, and ▲‘Eum5G,’ which minimizes communication latency between cloud and robots to maximize the performance of ARC and the robots.
Additionally, robotic arms are under development. Ambidex, a dual-arm robot developed through collaboration between Naver Labs and Korea University of Technology and Education (KOREATECH), is piloting a service to disinfect the robot ‘Rookie’ in spaces such as cafes within 1784. The drawing robot ‘ARTO-1,’ also researched by Naver Labs at 1784, is part of these robotic experiments. ARTO-1 learns human brush strokes and draws pictures on a pad.
Naver’s New Technologies Applied to Access, Payment, and Meetings
At 1784, various advanced technologies from Naver Clova are applied starting from access control. The entrance ‘Speedgate’ uses Clova’s facial recognition technology ‘CLOVA FaceSign,’ allowing employees to pass through without stopping by simply using facial recognition instead of tagging an ID card. Furthermore, facial recognition enables access, receipt of work devices, and payments at the affiliated clinic, cafeteria, and convenience store without the need to tag an ID card or enter an employee number.
Naver’s technology is also integrated into the affiliated clinic at 1784. By applying ‘CLOVA Healthcare’ technologies, the clinic simplifies previously inconvenient hospital procedures. When patients provide medical history online, AI technology automatically converts the information into medical terminology and records it in the EMR, reducing the time spent during hospital visits. ‘CLOVA OCR’ and ‘AI Summary’ technologies allow past examination results in various formats to be viewed at a glance.
Additionally, Naver Works enables control of various building infrastructures and convenient functions within 1784. AI-powered voice recognition technology is applied in meetings to record and automatically transcribe meeting content into documents.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
