When You Order, Robots 'Chukchuk'... Serving Robots Help Restaurants in the COVID Era

Amid the Rise of Contactless Trends, Baemin Serving Robots Surpass 100 Units

Woowa Brothers' serving robot 'Dilly Plate'

#. Office worker Kim Yoon-hee (alias) recently found a favorite restaurant after the implementation of social distancing level 2.5. Although many days she has lunch with delivery food, when she inevitably has to eat out, her steps always lead to that place. It is a restaurant operated by autonomous serving robots. At this place, the entire process of ordering, payment, and receiving food is conducted contactlessly (untact). It is perfect for Kim, who wants to avoid contact with outsiders as much as possible these days. She enters the restaurant, eats for about an hour, and leaves without ever encountering a staff member, yet she has already become familiar as a regular customer.

In the prolonged situation of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) crisis, autonomous indoor serving robots responsible for 'untact' meals are gaining popularity. The robots supplied by Woowa Brothers, who started the serving robot rental business at the end of last year, have rapidly increased to over 100 units since COVID-19.

According to Woowa Brothers on the 12th, currently, 104 units of the serving robot 'Dilly Plate' are operating in 77 restaurant stores nationwide. Considering that Dilly Plate first started serving in restaurants in November last year, operated 18 units in 12 restaurants nationwide in early February this year, and about 23 units in 16 restaurants in April, it has rapidly increased during the COVID-19 crisis. Woowa Brothers explained that restaurants struggling with business due to customers and staff avoiding face-to-face contact, as well as restaurants that could not hire part-time workers due to a significant drop in sales from COVID-19, are choosing serving robots, which are cheaper than labor costs.

As the number of restaurants using Dilly Plate increases, Woowa Brothers extended the promotion to waive rental fees for three months if joining the rental program by the end of August for one more month until September. Woowa Brothers' Dilly Plate rental program includes robot rental, regular maintenance, and business liability insurance. In particular, they provide robot solution consulting tailored to the business before introduction and frequently manage the robots after installation. Robots are deployed according to each restaurant's environment.

For example, the model added in July, 'Dilly Plate L01,' developed by LG Electronics and custom-made by Woowa Brothers for general restaurants, requires no separate installation for robot navigation within the store and has excellent speed control and obstacle avoidance functions due to advanced sensor design, enabling smooth serving even in stores with complex routes. The robot body is equipped with a total of four trays, allowing it to serve more than ten side dishes and meals for four people at once without difficulty. Also, the 'Dilly Plate K01' is specialized for cafes selling beverages or desserts or small restaurants with fewer side dishes or single menus. Although it carries fewer menu items at once, it moves without problems even in places with narrow table spacing. Kim Yo-seop, head of Woowa Brothers' robot business division, said, "We plan to continuously add new lineups so that more restaurants can conveniently use serving robots."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.