Doosan Robotics, Daedong team up for agricultural robots

Daedong Vice Chairman Won Yoo-hyun, left, poses with Doosan Robotics CEO Kim Min-pyo after signing a memorandum of understanding at the latter's Innovation Center in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Friday. Courtesy of Doosan Robotics

Doosan Robotics and agricultural machinery firm Daedong have teamed up for developing on-device artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and agricultural robots, the former said Monday.

Doosan Robotics and Daedong signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) containing details on their partnerships at the former’s innovation center in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Friday.

Daedong is one of Korea’s leading agricultural machinery firms, manufacturing autonomous tractors and other automated machineries.

Under the agreement, the two companies will join forces for developing field robots optimized for smart farms and outdoor agricultural environments, creating and commercializing on-device AI applicable to unstructured farming conditions and exploring global markets for field robots.

Doosan Robotics will be responsible for designing and manufacturing robotic arms and control systems to commercialize mobile manipulators specialized for agriculture. A mobile manipulator is a mobile robot that combines an autonomous mobile robot or platform with robotic arms to perform integrated tasks.

Daedong will design and manufacture an autonomous mobile platform that uses various agricultural field data, as well as handling the field testing, safety certification for on-site operations and support for overseas regulatory compliance.

The two companies will also jointly develop on-device AI technology capable of human-level recognition and perform agricultural tasks in unstructured environments. Through the cooperation, the two sides will jointly apply for an upcoming government project to develop AI System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions.

On-device AI runs AI functions directly on the device, not through cloud servers, enabling real-time AI services without connections and improving response speed.

For this, Doosan Robotics will develop algorithms and standardize key elements such as performance, functionality and interface for SoCs.

"Through this MOU, we will develop robotic solutions that can be applied to agricultural sites where working conditions are challenging and labor power is hard to secure,” Doosan Robotics CEO Kim Min-pyo said. “By combining Daedong’s extensive experience in manufacturing field equipment with Doosan Robotics’ technological expertise, we will commercialize mobile manipulators in the near future and expand into the global agricultural market.”