Kakao Mobility is showcasing an indoor delivery service using robots at its corporate café in collaboration with LG Electronics. Last June, Kakao Mobility signed a business agreement with LG Electronics for the joint development of services and expansion of the mobility ecosystem through technical collaboration in the field of future mobility.
This service represents Kakao Mobility’s first robot delivery initiative. Employees of Kakao Mobility can order drinks from the corporate café via an order app, and the delivery robot will pick up the items and deliver them to the floor of the orderer. LG Electronics’ CLOi robot solution handles the technical oversight and delivery tasks required for robot operation.
Kakao Mobility has taken on the development of a ‘robot platform’ that serves as a bridge between the order app and the robots. This platform standardizes delivery orders, which may vary by service type and industry, into a form that robots can understand. It is responsible for service operations including delivery planning, dispatch, routing, robot oversight, and operational data analysis. This allows for the optimization of matching demand (delivery orders) with supply (robots) so that each robot can efficiently handle various types of orders.
Although robot navigation technology has advanced to a commercially viable level, there have been numerous challenges in implementing real-world commercial services using robots. This is primarily due to the differing formats of delivery orders at various locations, which often results in robots being confined to specific operations or only feasible in environments equipped with comprehensive infrastructure for robot operation, such as smart buildings.
However, with the application of Kakao Mobility’s robot platform, robots will be able to receive orders from various locations and perform complex or bundled deliveries. For instance, a robot can deliver café drinks within a building while simultaneously bundling and delivering mail items that are en route to another destination.
Moreover, in general buildings that lack dedicated elevators or sensors designed for robots, implementing robot delivery can become more accessible by leveraging existing assets.
As a platform is introduced into the robot delivery service, it will enable the expansion of robot delivery services from specific stores to entire buildings, increasing the productivity of robots, and accelerating the commercialization of robot delivery services.
Kakao Mobility is expected to maximize synergy with robot delivery services, as it owns parking lots that can serve as robot hubs and various mobility and logistics service foundations that can be linked with robots.
Kakao Mobility plans to apply high-precision map production technology to the robot platform, assisting clients wanting to introduce robot services to quickly establish optimized high-precision maps for their building environments and automate updates. They aim to contribute to the activation of the domestic robot ecosystem by presenting an open robot platform that can combine with various services such as mail delivery, food and beverage delivery, baggage delivery, and drive-thru.
Jang Seong-wook, Head of the Future Mobility Research Institute at Kakao Mobility, stated, “The platform capabilities that Kakao Mobility has built, including AI dispatch, route optimization, and high-precision map creation, are essential core technologies required across the future mobility sector.” He expressed his ambition to establish an open robot platform based on these capabilities, implementing robot delivery services that can be immediately applied in both current robot navigation technology and building environments, thus speeding up the commercialization of robot services.
Lee Sang-jin daedusj@autodiary.kr