Delivery robots to arrive in Seoul

The WITH:US LoGi delivery robot. / Courtesy of Unmanned Solution

By Lee Suh-yoon

Starting October, unmanned delivery robots will navigate Sangam Digital Media City (DMC), the autonomous driving test bed in western Seoul, the city government announced Sunday.

Built by local startup Unmanned Solution, the four-wheeled electric vehicles have a flat tray on top that can carry up to 200 kilograms of goods. A fleet will undergo a year-long test run inside the DMC as part of a city-funded program.

"The robots will start with shipping supplies from freight trucks near the main road to restaurants and shops in car-free zones inside the DMC area," said Jung Young-jae, a city official in charge of the startup incubation project at Seoul Institute of Technology. "If all is well, the robots will later advance to food deliveries."

For this test run, the robots will stick to pedestrian areas ― plazas, parks and walking streets around the MBC headquarters. Crossroads may or may not be included on the route, according to progress. There will be no driving on the road alongside other vehicles at this stage.

The DMC self-driving test bed is lined with 5G network cables that allow instant connectivity between vehicles, traffic lights and stations. The area is being used to test the country's first driverless buses.

The city chose two companies ― including Unmanned Solution ― for this year's city-funded program helping startups test new technology.

The other is Hyorim, a wastewater treatment firm that plans to use IoT sensors for real-time monitoring of groundwater contamination levels around Noksapyeong Station in central Seoul. The surrounding wells suffer from high levels of benzene ― a cancer-causing substance ― leaked from the nearby U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan.

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