Evolution of Serving Robots... Guiding Tables and Recommending Menus [Unmanned Era⑨]

Minsu Kim, Head of Serving Robot Business at Woowa Brothers
"Focusing on Making Robots Collaborate Naturally with Humans"

Minsu Kim, Head of Serving Robot Business Division at Woowa Brothers

As soon as you enter the restaurant, a robot approaches first to greet you. It shows you the available seats, and once you choose your preferred spot, the robot begins to guide you. After sitting down, it even recommends menu items. This is the new indoor autonomous serving robot ‘DillyPlate S’ recently introduced by Woowa Brothers. The evolution of serving robots has now gone beyond just delivering food to also handling customer service. The advancement of such serving robot technology is transforming the future of restaurants. Woowa Brothers has been leading the application of unmanned technology in restaurants since they started supplying serving robots in 2019. Now, it is no longer an unusual sight to eat food served by robots at local eateries. We spoke with Kim Min-su, Head of the Serving Robot Business Division at Woowa Brothers, who is at the center of this change, about restaurants working alongside robots.

On the 6th, Kim said, "We expect serving robots to become more widely adopted at a faster pace in the future," adding, "Robots will handle the tedious tasks so that restaurant owners can focus more on their customers." As he mentioned, the distribution of serving robots is gaining momentum. Just looking at Woowa Brothers’ serving robots, about 630 units are currently operating in approximately 500 stores nationwide. These robots work an average of 8 hours a day, serving around 2,000 orders per month. Moreover, since March this year, the partnership between Woowa Brothers and SK Shieldus has accelerated the popularization of serving robots. Kim explained, "With SK Shieldus actively promoting sales to many stores, serving robots are becoming as well recognized as kiosks or POS systems."

Woowa Brothers views the use of smart technologies like serving robots as going beyond simple labor cost reduction and efficiency improvement; they see it leading to new job creation and ultimately customer satisfaction. Kim said, "When serving robots take over repetitive tasks or difficult night shifts, staff can focus on tasks only humans can do, improving the quality of customer service," adding, "One robot can perform various roles such as guiding, promoting, serving, and clearing tables."

Customer satisfaction is also high in actual restaurants. Kim stated, "Since our first contract in 2019, we have supplied robots to numerous stores, most of which have used them for over a year, with some exceeding 24 months," and added, "Many stores now give feedback that it is difficult to operate without serving robots."

In these restaurants, when a staff member places food on the robot’s shelf and inputs the table number, the robot autonomously carries the food to the customer’s table via the optimal route. If it encounters obstacles blocking its path, it avoids them on its own. Since it works navigating inside the restaurant, safety is one of the key focuses in Woowa Brothers’ serving robot functions. Kim introduced, "The newly launched model DillyPlate S has enhanced shock absorption to prevent shaking and improve product stability," adding, "It is equipped with laser radar and positioning cameras to better avoid obstacles, and a large 10.1-inch touchscreen that shows the rotation direction in advance to prevent collisions."

The future restaurant vision Woowa Brothers aims for through their serving robot business is not a fully unmanned store. According to Kim, they envision a store where humans and robots naturally harmonize. He emphasized, "We focus on enabling robots to collaborate naturally with humans," and added, "For this, we are developing robots not only to perform transport tasks like serving and clearing but also to take on various other roles."

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