Drones and Robots Join Forces to Deliver Daily Necessities to Islands

The Nation's First Demonstration of Contactless Delivery Service Collaborating Drones and Autonomous Driving Robots

An image of drone delivery taking place at a GS25 store. (Photo by GS Retail)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] For the first time in Korea, a service combining drones and robots to deliver daily necessities to an island will be demonstrated.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that, together with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), it will hold a 'Drone·Robot Contactless Delivery Service Demonstration Event' at 11:30 a.m. on the 13th at Jangdo Island, Yeosu, Jeollanam-do.

At the event, a service delivering GS25 daily necessities and art supplies ordered via an application to customers on the island will be demonstrated.

Delivery items will be loaded onto a drone at a GS Caltex gas station located inland, transported across the sea to Jangdo Island, and then handed over to an autonomous driving robot to deliver to the customer.

This is the first time a new concept contactless delivery service is being demonstrated where drones (air) and autonomous driving robots (ground) collaborate to deliver goods.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy expects that automating last-mile delivery services will greatly improve distribution logistics innovation, consumer and delivery personnel safety, and product satisfaction.

Going forward, the ministry plans to actively support ETRI and related companies to enable contactless unmanned delivery in urban areas and inside buildings where drone movement is limited by integrating autonomous driving robot technology into drones.

In early next month, a contactless distribution logistics delivery demonstration event will be held at COEX in conjunction with the Korea Sale Festa.

Additionally, through drone and robot-based unmanned delivery services, convenience will be provided to residents in distribution logistics blind spots such as islands and mountainous areas, and projects to enhance public acceptance and utilization of technological innovation in the post-COVID-19 era will continue.

GS Caltex and GS Retail will continue to promote the business of transforming gas stations into contactless logistics platforms.

Kang Kyung-sung, Director of Industrial Policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, evaluated, "This demonstration event shows the efforts and achievements of the public and private sectors in fostering the drone and robot industries and serves as an opportunity to accelerate the realization of innovative contactless delivery services."

He added, "We will accelerate the early commercialization of drone and robot-based contactless delivery services and, to simultaneously develop and commercialize core technologies such as communication and control between drones and robots, wireless automatic charging, precision automatic landing, autonomous flight, and autonomous driving for both indoor and outdoor use, we will work with related ministries to promptly revise and establish regulations."

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