"Coffee Delivery by Elevator"... Baemin Robots Roam Inside Gwanghwamun Building

Woowa Brothers to Demonstrate Autonomous Indoor Delivery Robot on 19th
Introducing 'Dilly Tower,' a Delivery Robot Navigating Inside High-Rise Buildings
"Increasing Delivery Demand... Solving Rider Shortage and Delivery Cost Burden"

"I'm getting off here."

On the 19th, at D Tower Gwanghwamun, a high-rise building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, 'Dilly Tower,' an indoor delivery robot operated by Woowa Brothers, the company behind Baedal Minjok, says "I'm getting off here" as it exits the elevator. Dilly Tower successfully delivered three iced Americanos from F Coffee Shop located on the basement first floor of this building to the 8th floor. It took less than 10 minutes from ordering the coffee via a smartphone application (app).

The Dilly Tower delivery service was introduced at D Tower Gwanghwamun three weeks ago. This building is a large-scale mixed-use commercial and office complex with 8 basement floors and 24 above-ground floors, housing 13 companies and about 4,000 employees. Now, employees of tenant companies no longer need to go downstairs to buy coffee. Dilly Tower delivers simple food and beverages directly to each office. It can carry up to 14 cups on trays inside the robot, and since there is no delivery fee or minimum order amount, even one cup of coffee can be delivered. This is the second installation of the Dilly Tower service following its introduction last month in a residential-commercial complex apartment in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. F Coffee Shop currently operates two Dilly Tower robots.

Dilly Tower, which navigates inside large buildings, showcases advanced service operation capabilities such as autonomous driving technology and elevator integration systems, reflecting accumulated know-how. By scanning QR codes placed on each floor with a smartphone, an order window pops up, making it easy to place delivery orders. The robot carrying the food passes through the access control system (speed gate) and stops in front of the elevator. At this point, the robot sends a signal to the elevator system, so the button is pressed automatically. It smartly finds the fastest route to the destination and boards the first arriving elevator among the eight available. Equipped with multiple sensors, if it detects obstacles during delivery, it avoids them, and if the elevator is crowded, it even says, "There are many people, I'll take the next one."

Customers receive notification messages whenever the order is accepted, the robot departs, and arrives. After receiving a call from the arriving robot, pressing the last digits of their phone number on the screen at the top of the device opens the door to retrieve the food. After completing the delivery, the robot returns to the coffee shop and docks at the charger. Woowa Brothers plans to increase the number of affiliated stores such as restaurants by analyzing delivery demand within buildings. Go Won-young from the Robot Delivery Service Team explained, "We are receiving active inquiries from apartment construction companies and others," adding, "The more secure and management-intensive the building, the higher the interest." However, Go also noted, "Introducing the Dilly Tower service requires cooperation and agreement from multiple parties, including building managers and tenant companies." DL E&C, which constructed D Tower, and Woowa Brothers signed a business agreement last May to collaborate on delivery robot development.

Dilly Tower was first piloted in 2019 at Woowa Brothers' headquarters in Songpa-gu. At that time, it confirmed the potential of robot delivery services by reducing delivery times by 5 to 16 minutes compared to before. In August of the same year, it conducted a two-month pilot of Dilly Tower room service at the 'H AVENUE' hotel in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. They have also developed and are operating the outdoor delivery robot 'Dilly Drive' and the serving robot 'Dilly Plate.' Gidae Won, branding manager of the Robot Business Office, said, "As delivery demand increases, there is a shortage of riders, and both customers and business owners face higher delivery costs, so we planned robot delivery to solve these problems," adding, "In a situation where non-face-to-face transaction culture is taking root, the advantage is that customers can use safe and convenient services through delivery robots."

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