Woowa Brothers, 5,000 Deliveries from 55th Floor Trade Tower
Competition in Developing Elevator-Riding Robot Technology
A fierce competition in robot technology is unfolding in front of elevators. The moment a robot boards an elevator, the range of tasks it can perform expands significantly. Previously, serving robots that delivered food within a limited area on one floor can now become delivery robots that travel between floors to deliver anything once they can use elevators. Beyond restaurants, buildings nationwide become potential demand sources for robot supply. This is why robot companies are focusing their efforts this year on developing and commercializing elevator integration technology, which is currently in the demonstration stage.
On the 25th, Woowa Brothers announced that their indoor autonomous delivery robot service operating at COEX Mall and Trade Tower in Samseong-dong, Seoul, has recorded over 5,000 cumulative orders. This achievement was made within a year since the service started in October 2022 as part of the 'Teheran-ro Robot Street Development Project,' a consortium involving Woowa Brothers, Seoul City, and Gangnam-gu.
Woowa Brothers provided this service targeting the Trade Tower office, which has 2 basement floors and 55 above-ground floors with over 3,000 residents. The service delivers food and beverages from dining outlets inside COEX Mall to office spaces in Trade Tower, with the core being the indoor delivery robot ‘Dilly Tower’ equipped with autonomous driving technology. This robot moves freely inside complex buildings without human assistance. Notably, the robot’s ‘brain’ and elevator operation system integration technology stand out. When the robot arrives at the elevator, it automatically calls the elevator in the direction of travel, and once onboard, the desired floor button is pressed automatically. In buildings with multiple elevators, the robot boards the first arriving elevator and waits for the next one if the elevator is crowded. Woowa Brothers have refined the service by piloting Dilly Tower in various spaces such as apartments and hotels, and plan to further demonstrate indoor and outdoor delivery robot services in apartment complexes within Seoul in the future.
Serving robot company VD Company recently launched ‘Flashbot,’ an indoor delivery robot capable of inter-floor movement. Through autonomous driving and elevator integration, it moves between floors within buildings to deliver items unmanned. It is compatible with most elevators, including the three major domestic elevator manufacturers?Hyundai Elevator, Otis Elevator, and TK Elevator?as well as small and medium-sized manufacturers. The robot is currently being piloted at Hankook Tire’s Pangyo headquarters and Shinshin M&C’s Daegu office. VD Company expects Flashbot to be spotlighted as an unmanned indoor delivery and customer guidance solution in hotels, office buildings, hospitals, and more. Ham Pansik, CEO of VD Company, said, "Inter-floor delivery robots reduce risks related to manpower issues and cut management costs. Since installation and use require minimal training, employees can focus on other tasks."
Recently, Bear Robotics, which received a $60 million investment from LG Electronics, is introducing autonomous serving robots capable of elevator boarding to the global market. In 2022, they launched ‘ServiLift,’ a robot capable of autonomous delivery within buildings, and last year signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with IoT specialist company M2M Tech to advance elevator boarding technology for serving robots. Notably, ServiLift demonstrates that serving robots can be used for more than just food delivery. Since last year, it has been working as a ‘robot clerk’ at the document office of Gumi City Hall, moving between floors 1 to 4 of the main building to deliver interdepartmental mail and administrative documents.
Robot solution company Marosol recently unveiled the robot-elevator integration solution ‘Solink Linker.’ This is a control solution that can directly link multiple robots with elevators. It can integrate not only delivery robots but also cleaning robots and logistics robots to board elevators. Kim Minkyo, CEO of Marosol, said, "Based on accumulated data, we plan to provide Solink, which reduces the time and cost of robot adoption, and robot automation solutions optimized for the field."
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