Hanwha Techwin Enters Unmanned Store Business with 'Automatic Checkout'

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] # A in his 30s, an office worker, recently had an embarrassing experience while using a self-checkout lane at a large supermarket. The self-checkout lane failed to recognize the barcode of the product. After struggling with the scanner for a long time, A quietly moved to the regular checkout lane with his items as the line behind him grew longer.

# B, a housewife in her 50s living with a family of five, does not use self-checkout lanes. Since her family is large, they buy a variety of products in bulk during one shopping trip, and because she is not familiar with the device, scanning each barcode individually takes more time than using the regular checkout lanes.

To address these issues, a security company, not a distribution company, has stepped forward.

Global security company Hanwha Techwin announced on the 15th that it has developed and launched an 'Automatic Checkout (ACO)' system that improves the inconveniences of existing self-checkout lanes and is entering the unmanned store solution business.

Unlike most unmanned checkout lanes where consumers must scan product barcodes themselves, known as Self Check Out (SCO), Hanwha Techwin plans to differentiate itself by developing products in the form of 'Automatic Checkout.'

The 'Automatic Checkout' is an unmanned checkout system where products placed on a conveyor belt are automatically recognized by the device. Multiple sensors and cameras automatically recognize product barcodes regardless of their position or orientation, so consumers do not need to find and scan each barcode individually.

The industry expects the global unmanned checkout market to reach approximately 3.5 billion dollars and to grow at an average annual rate of over 9% for the next three years. In South Korea, the number of stores operating unmanned checkout lanes is continuously increasing, with an estimated installation of over 100,000 unmanned checkout lanes currently.

Hanwha Techwin has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with global machine vision company Cognex to enhance competitiveness in this field from a long-term perspective, aiming to promote unmanned store business and collaborate on retail-related businesses based on new technologies.

The two companies will expand the unmanned store business through ▲ development of unmanned checkout lanes using video-based barcode recognition technology and deep learning image recognition technology ▲ development of unmanned store-related solutions ▲ establishment of a global sales network ▲ cooperation in the machine vision camera business.

Hanwha Techwin plans to maximize synergy effects between businesses by developing various unmanned store solutions that not only prevent various incidents such as product theft and loss within stores by linking with its core video security business but also provide diverse information for efficient store operation through intelligent video analysis.

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