K-Robots Expand into Middle Eastern Market

Newbility's 'Newbie' Completes 1,000 Deliveries in NEOM City
K-Robots Attract Attention at Dubai GITEX as Well

K-robots are navigating the Middle Eastern market. As digital transformation progresses throughout the Middle East, the technological capabilities of South Korean robot startups are gaining attention. The Middle East, where aggressive investments are being made across industries, also presents an opportunity for K-robots to leap forward in the global market.

According to Newbility, an autonomous driving robot service company, the delivery robot ‘Newbee’ operating in the logistics complex Oxagon within Saudi Arabia’s future smart city Neom City has successfully completed about 1,000 deliveries to date. Newbee has demonstrated high efficiency, taking an average of 22 minutes from order reception to delivery completion, and was recently featured in materials published by Oxagon.

Newbility's 'Newbie' is performing deliveries in Neom City. Provided by Newbility

Newbility was selected for the global program ‘Oxagon X McLaren Accelerator,’ jointly hosted by Oxagon and British supercar manufacturer McLaren, and began delivering daily necessities to employees at the base camp starting December last year. Newbility deployed two robots to automate food truck deliveries within Oxagon and developed a localized delivery app to digitalize the ordering and payment processes.

Locally, Newbility’s robots have been recognized as contributing to realizing Neom City’s vision of an advanced industrial city. Howard Woo, Director of International Investment and Manufacturing at Oxagon, stated, "Newbility’s innovative technology plays a crucial role in building Oxagon’s smart logistics ecosystem." Based on this case, Newbility plans to accelerate expanding its business scope in the Middle Eastern market. Lee Sang-min, CEO of Newbility, said, "We will deploy robots across various industries such as logistics, manufacturing, and healthcare within Neom City."

At the ‘UAE Information and Communications Technology Exhibition (GITEX)’ held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from the 14th to the 18th of last month, various K-robots also attracted attention. This exhibition has been held annually by the UAE since 1981 and is called the ‘Middle Eastern CES.’ At this exhibition, the Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement operated the ‘Korea Robot Pavilion,’ showcasing products from six domestic robot startups. These included STS Robotech’s chicken cooking robot, SignLab’s ‘Multipurpose Farm Robot,’ Airova’s ‘Caddy Robot,’ Circulus’s ‘Companion and Education Robot,’ NDS Solution’s ‘Guide Robot,’ and Higeranetworks’s ‘Automatic Urination Care Robot.’ The Institute explained that these six companies achieved export consultation results worth $42.28 million with about 180 companies.

Patrol robot startup Dogu Space also participated in the exhibition with a separate booth. The robot introduced by Dogu Space is the patrol robot ‘Patrover,’ which received favorable reviews for its integration of artificial intelligence (AI) security technology and autonomous driving technology. An intelligent control system is also provided, allowing administrators to directly check and control the robot’s tasks from any desired location at any time. A representative from Dogu Space said, "Interest and demand for autonomous patrol robots are increasing overseas," adding, "We will pioneer the Middle Eastern and North African markets."