Autonomous Model to Launch Next Month
Transport Robot Rental Service Also Planned
Farmers can now address labor shortages with robots. This development comes as Daedong, an agricultural company, is actively promoting the distribution of agricultural transport robots. Daedong has decided to offer a rental service for farms that need transport robots but are burdened by the initial costs. The company also plans to release a model equipped with autonomous driving functions for transport robots next month. Additionally, a transport robot that can communicate with workers through AI-powered voice recognition has been developed.
According to industry sources on June 13, Daedong's agricultural transport robot "RT100," which was launched in February this year, will be distributed through a specialized rental service provider, expanding its distribution network. This means that farms can now acquire transport robots not only through Daedong's dealerships and sales channels, but also via rental companies. The strategy is to allow fruit farms and similar operations to use transport robots without financial burden and experience their benefits firsthand.
The "RT100" agricultural transport robot, developed by Daedong Robotics, Daedong's intelligent robotics subsidiary, can carry up to 300 kg and transport loads via a wired (cable) system, making it easy to use for women and elderly farmers. It features a function that follows the user at a set distance, enhancing convenience during work. This solves the inconvenience of having to constantly drive agricultural machinery while harvesting fruits and other crops. As it is electric, it produces little noise and no exhaust, which reduces worker fatigue. It is also equipped with functions such as on-the-spot 360-degree rotation, which is effective on narrow farm roads. Its four-wheel drive allows it to operate in rough terrain, making it suitable for various farm environments.
In July, Daedong plans to strengthen its transport robot lineup by launching a remote control model that can be operated wirelessly and an autonomous driving model that can move to designated locations based on a work area map. The autonomous driving model has been certified by the Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency as an autonomous agricultural power carrier. In the long term, Daedong also plans to introduce a transport robot equipped with voice recognition and a large language model (LLM), enabling it to converse with workers while performing farm tasks. This technology has been developed with consideration for situations where elderly farmers work alone due to aging rural populations, and the model is currently undergoing testing.
The reason Daedong is focusing on agricultural transport robots is the strong growth potential of the market. According to Daedong, the domestic market for agricultural transport vehicles is about 6,000 units per year. In particular, demand for autonomous mobile robots is increasing rapidly. Daedong expects the market to grow at an average annual rate of more than 27.5% over the next five years. The company aims to lead the agricultural robot market by building diverse sales channels and product lineups, with a goal of distributing a cumulative total of 10,000 transport robots by 2029. A Daedong representative said, "We will continue to accelerate the robotization of Korean agriculture through user-centered agricultural robots."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
