Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
KT showcases self-driving delivery robot at MWC
A visitor to KT's booth at the MWC tech show in Barcelona takes a look the company's delivery robot, Monday (local time). Courtesy of KT
By Baek Byung-yeul
By Baek Byung-yeul
KT showed off its robotics tech at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona as part of the mobile carrier's effort to meet with more global clients in the emerging service robot market, according to the company, Tuesday.
During the first day of the MWC tech show, the company displayed its delivery robots that can be used in various fields such as hotels, resorts and hospitals. The company also introduced a robotics business management platform service Robot Makers.
The company said its Robot Makers platform is a cloud-based integrated control platform that can connect between different types of robots. Also, the platform can connect the robots with various kinds of infrastructure they can use such as elevators, product order and payment apps, doors, interphones and even cold-chain storage, a supply chain for temperature-sensitive products.
“It is an open structure system that can apply various robots to various businesses. To enable clients to link their robots with other systems, we also provide software development kit and application programming interface,” the company said.
KT also claimed it applied the cold-chain system for its robots. The robots can control temperature and humidity in their cargo area to foods fresh during delivery runs.
The company elaborated the delivery robots introduced at the MWC are for delivery at campsites and resorts. For instance, when users order items remotely with a QR code, the robots deliver the products.
“We will expand the application of the cold-chain system to various robots that are used in hotels and hospitals as well,” the company said.
KT also displayed artificial intelligence (AI)-based quarantine robots at the MWC. The company already commercialized the quarantine robot in the Korean market to meet clients' needs to sterilize their spaces automatically.
At the booth, the robots demonstrate functions such as air purification, virus sterilization and floor sterilization to visitors. Starting with the AI quarantine robots, KT plans to expand the sales of its robot services to the global market.
“The delivery robot unveiled at the MWC 2023 will be an innovative service that makes delivery including food delivery more convenient,” said Lee Sang-ho, head of KT's AI robot business. “KT will continue contributing to making better connections between people through robots that customers can use in various environments.”