LS Electric deploys robotic dogs to drive smart factory automation in Busan
LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-kyun, front row center, inspects the operation of Boston Dynamics' four-legged robot Spot during a tour of the company's manufacturing facility in Busan. Courtesy of LS Electric
Korean power equipment and industrial automation solution provider LS Electric said Tuesday it has put two of Boston Dynamics' four-legged Spot robots into regular operation at its Busan plant, using them to monitor production equipment and support quality and safety management as part of a broader smart factory push.
The company worked with Hyundai Autoever, a systems integration affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, for a roughly two-month trial run starting in July before formally deploying the two robots.
The Busan plant is LS Electric's main production site for ultrahigh-voltage transformers, a market seeing rising global demand as investment in AI data centers and power grids accelerates. The company said Spot will help build a predictive maintenance system that flags equipment problems before they cause production delays.
The robots are being used to monitor vapor phase drying, a core part of transformer manufacturing in which components are dried in a vacuum chamber. Spot's onboard thermal camera checks chamber door seals and detects heat leaks without physical contact, while sensors collect heat, noise and vibration data from pumps, motors and control panels to catch early signs of malfunction.
The robots also patrol the factory floor to monitor temperature- and humidity-controlled equipment using AI-based visual inspection, and are being used to check test equipment and utility systems such as motors, chillers and generators for abnormal noise or heat. LS Electric said the robots also patrol restricted or hazardous areas in place of human workers, reducing safety risks and automating repetitive inspection tasks.
The company plans to build an AI analysis model based on data from the Busan deployment and later expand the system to other production sites in Korea and abroad.
"We plan to actively apply AI and robotics technology to our manufacturing sites to secure competitiveness in quality, price and delivery," an LS Electric official said.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.