CU Starts Delivery Robot Testing... Faster Than Riders

Available 24 Hours, Average Duration 11 Minutes

CU announced on the 13th that it will conduct a pilot project using delivery robots from ‘MOBINN,’ a startup spun off from Hyundai Motor Company’s in-house startup, until the 23rd of this month.

BGF Retail signed a business agreement last year with MOBINN and Nice Information & Telecommunication to expand eco-friendly mobility, forming a last-mile business council for system integration and operation advancement. CU is providing the Namyang City branch to verify the commercialization potential of robot delivery and is participating in development work for linking the robot with the delivery system. The robot delivery targets Hyundai Motor’s Namyang Research Institute employee apartment complex, located 100 meters from the store.

Delivery robot of MOBINN.
Photo by BGF Retail

Through Pocket CU or a delivery application (app), the optimal route is set to the address ordered by the customer, and once an employee loads the products onto the robot, it automatically departs. After completing delivery, it returns to the starting point and operates 24 hours a day even under severe weather conditions such as snow and rain. Using 3D LiDAR sensors, it recognizes obstacles encountered during operation, such as narrow sidewalks and curved slopes, and reflects them in real time on the route.

With the world’s first developed flexible wheels, the wheels bend when moving over obstacle sections, allowing free movement over high apartment stairs and sloped sidewalks. Thanks to this, unlike existing delivery robots that detour to avoid obstacles, it can travel the shortest route by going over stairs and slopes.

The robot can keep the product storage box level at all times, enabling stable delivery not only of finished products like snacks and lunch boxes but also fragile items such as desserts and freshly brewed coffee. To this end, BGF installed PLA boxes developed by BGF Ecosolutions, a subsidiary of BGF Ecomaterials, in the robot’s delivery compartment to enhance space efficiency and delivery stability.

Since the 3rd of this month, over 20 deliveries have been processed. The average time to complete delivery was 11 minutes, which was faster compared to general rider deliveries that take 20 to 30 minutes from dispatch to completion. The last-mile business council plans to gradually expand the operation area after confirming indoor and outdoor driving performance and obstacle overcoming capabilities.

A BGF Retail official said, “This pilot project is significant as it marks the first step toward commercializing robot delivery services and helps advance domestic retail tech. Going forward, CU will continue to participate steadily in the robot delivery business according to the delivery roadmap using robots to provide differentiated services.”