[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Robotis is showing strong performance. The news that Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who is continuing efforts to improve regulations, visited the company the day before and promised to "swiftly promote regulatory improvements such as allowing pedestrian passage" appears to be influencing the stock price.
As of 9:38 AM on the 9th, Robotis is trading at 24,400 KRW, up 13.75% from the previous day.
On the afternoon of the previous day, Prime Minister Han visited Robotis, a specialized autonomous driving robot company located in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, along with the 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Head of Traffic Planning at the National Police Agency. Under the motto "Opening the era of one robot per person," Robotis is continuing research and development with the goal of having robots coexist and assist human life in everyday life.
Robotis, which received approval for the "Regulatory Sandbox" system that exempts or defers unreasonable regulations on companies when new technologies are launched, shared updates on technological advancements and simultaneously listened to difficulties caused by regulations. Robotis was the first in the robotics field to apply for and pass the industrial convergence regulatory sandbox. In the domestic autonomous driving robot sector, Robotis is the first in Korea to operate outdoor autonomous driving, especially on sidewalks and crosswalks, thanks to the industrial convergence regulatory sandbox demonstration exception. They claim to possess unique know-how. Based on this, they are enhancing competitiveness by integrating various services such as delivery and security. They have formed a strategic partnership with LG Electronics, which holds an 8.1% stake in Robotis.
Prime Minister Han said, "At the Cabinet meeting, the President announced important directions for the government's industrial policy," adding, "The government has decided to concentrate all capabilities to win the global competition in advanced industries such as semiconductors, AI, software, and robotics."
Robotis promotes its actuator module Dynamixel lineup, a robot driving component, as its main product. Dynamixel was selected as a world-class product, recognizing its product competitiveness. Due to strong actuator sales, the company recorded sales of 6.3 billion KRW in the first quarter of this year, a 34% increase compared to the same period last year.
Researcher Seungyun Yang of Eugene Investment & Securities stated, "Indoor autonomous driving robots, which succeeded in commercialization last year, are being introduced one after another in major domestic hotels, gaining recognition for their potential," and introduced, "They plan to launch a robot rental service within the year to expand their business model to RaaS (Robot as a Service)."
He continued, "They aim to sell about 3,000 units not only to hotels but also to hospitals and restaurants by 2024," and analyzed, "Considering the service robot market environment, this is a sufficiently achievable level."
Furthermore, he said, "They have also succeeded in developing outdoor autonomous driving robots," and expressed expectations that "with regulatory relaxation, they will be able to dominate the domestic outdoor autonomous driving robot market based on their abundant know-how." Robotis is also pursuing cooperation with a U.S. logistics company, increasing the possibility of overseas expansion.
According to market research firms such as MarketsandMarkets, the global delivery robot market is expected to grow from approximately 251.7 billion KRW last year to 1.136 trillion KRW by 2026, at an average annual growth rate of 35.1%. By 2030, delivery robots are projected to handle 20% of total delivery volume, and the related market is expected to reach a scale of 50 trillion KRW.
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