Baemin Launches Serving Robot Subsidiary 'Birobotics'

Woowa Brothers Establish Independent Corporation for Serving Robot Business After Over 5 Years

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] Woowa Brothers, the operator of Baedal Minjok (Baemin), announced that its serving robot subsidiary 'Birobotics' has completed preparations for establishing a new corporation and officially launched on the 1st. Woowa Brothers decided to spin off the serving robot business last November and has been preparing by recruiting new personnel. The new corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Woowa Brothers, and Kim Min-su, who led the Serving Robot Business Division, will serve as the inaugural CEO.

Woowa Brothers began pilot services for serving robots in 2018 and successfully commercialized them in 2019 by launching rental-type products. In May last year, they introduced rental products priced around 300,000 KRW per month, leading the popularization of serving robots. They also collaborated with tablet order companies to launch functions linking ordering and serving.

Baemin spun off the serving robot business to respond quickly and flexibly to the growing serving robot market. The plan is to solidify the domestic market and pursue localization of robots and overseas market expansion in the mid to long term.

Birobotics plans to accelerate robot distribution this year with advanced services. Within the first half of the year, they will introduce enhanced serving and clearing functions by linking restaurant call bells with serving robots. They also plan to deploy serving robots in various stores such as screen golf centers, PC rooms, billiard halls, and logistics centers to broaden the base. Through this, they aim to distribute more than 1,300 new robots this year and operate over 2,500 units by the end of the year.

In the long term, they plan to localize serving robots and start exporting them. To this end, they are also considering domestic production of parts and robot manufacturing through an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) method.

Kim Min-su, CEO of Birobotics, said, "We will increase touchpoints so that serving robots can be utilized not only in food and beverage stores but also in various places such as billiard halls, beauty salons, and PC rooms," adding, "In line with the company's vision of 'a world where everyone works comfortably,' we will grow into a company with global leadership beyond Korea."

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