"AI Robot Serving" KT-OnTheBorder Collaborate on 'Food Tech'... Creating Automated Stores

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] KT is partnering with the Mexican restaurant On The Border to implement an AI-automated store that will lead the so-called 'Food Technology.' Inside the store, AI robots will serve food, and reservation management will also be handled through AI.

On the 8th, KT announced that it had signed a strategic business agreement with On The Border for digital transformation (DX) in the food service industry. The two companies plan to implement automated stores through various solutions such as introducing AI serving robots, managing reservations via AI Contact Center (AICC), and establishing a convenient payment system through smartro. KT will create a gigabit-level Wi-Fi environment inside the stores and promote the introduction of a system covering reservation-order-serving-payment through collaboration with solution providers.

As the first outcome of this business agreement, On The Border will introduce AI serving robots in its stores. They will first be available at On The Border Gwanghwamun, Yeongdeungpo, Yeouido, and Daejeon branches, with plans to expand to 12 stores nationwide in the future.

The AI serving robot is a state-of-the-art mobile service robot equipped with autonomous driving solutions and can precisely recognize obstacles through a total of four sensors, enabling accurate and safe autonomous driving even in narrow spaces. For stable serving, it can carry from a minimum of 150g up to a maximum of 30kg. When customers receive their food, the weight sensor recognizes it and automatically moves to the waiting area. KT plans to provide 24-hour robot control through its nationwide network and immediate after-sales service through dedicated robot personnel at 50 KT branches nationwide.

Park Yeonsu, CEO of On The Border, said, “The KT AI serving robot, which was pilot-installed at the Gwanghwamun branch, received great responses from both customers and employees, leading to the decision for full-scale adoption. Going forward, by introducing automated store solutions, we will provide the best customer service in an environment where employees can focus more on customer interaction.”

Yoo Changgyu, Head of KT Gangbuk·Gangwon Corporate Customer Headquarters (Executive Director), said, “This agreement between KT and On The Border will be a signal to open the ‘Food Tech’ market. Based on KT’s technologies such as AI serving robots, AICC, networks, and big data, we will continue to introduce automated store services that can transform customers’ dining experiences.”

The authentic Mexican restaurant On The Border operates over 150 stores in the United States and launched its first international store in Korea in 2007, operating the brand mainly through directly managed stores.

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