World's First Serving Robot Developer Bear Robotics from the US Invests 68.3 Billion KRW in Daegu

Hong Jun-pyo and Ha Jung-woo Business Agreement

Tech Center to Operate by End of 2024

On the 13th, Daegu City signed an investment agreement with Bear Robotics (CEO Ha Jung-woo) at the Sangyeok Government Complex to establish the Bear Robotics Tech Center, a service robot research and manufacturing facility within Daegu Technopolis.

Bear Robotics, founded in 2017 by former Google engineer Ha Jung-woo, is the world's first AI-based autonomous driving serving robot manufacturer. Starting its research and development in Silicon Valley, USA, it began mass-producing the serving robot "Servi" domestically from 2020.

Recently, it has attracted attention as a next-generation unicorn company, successfully securing an investment of approximately 100 billion KRW from SoftBank.

Serving robot.

In particular, Bear Robotics possesses outstanding technology in autonomous driving, a core technology of service robots, and continues to expand B2B robot sales based on partnerships with major domestic and international corporations such as KT, SoftBank, and CJ, as well as well-known franchises. It has launched serving robots, disinfection robots, and inter-floor mobility robots, expanding its range of robot products across various fields based on its self-developed platform.

Bear Robotics plans to invest 68.3 billion KRW in a 22,424㎡ (6,783 pyeong) site in Daegu Technopolis to build the Bear Robotics Tech Center, a research and manufacturing facility that will serve as a global hub to secure market leadership as a global leading company in the world robot market, which shows an average annual growth rate of 20%.

The global robot market is expected to grow from approximately 25 billion USD in 2020 to 160 billion USD by 2030.

Through this, Bear Robotics aims not only to develop robot unit technologies but also to implement an AI mobility platform based on cloud-based control technology for service robots and the latest artificial intelligence technologies.

Quarantine Robot.

Once the Bear Robotics Tech Center breaks ground in the second half of 2023 and begins operation by the end of 2024, it plans to conduct new product development, automated quality testing, and advanced AI platform technology development in Daegu.

Daegu City has selected the robot industry as one of the five new industries to lead the next 50 years and is actively promoting the service robot industry, which has recently grown rapidly, through abundant local robot infrastructure and robot industry fostering policies. It supports the entire service robot lifecycle, including complete product development and manufacturing, city-wide service robot demonstration and distribution, and fostering robot ventures and startups.

With the completion of the preliminary feasibility study for the national robot test field in August this year, systematic support centered on the national robot test field is expected to create synergy effects with Bear Robotics, a leading company in the service robot sector.

Indoor delivery robot.

Furthermore, with Daegu-Gyeongbuk region already possessing excellent manufacturing capabilities and developed logistics infrastructure such as railroads and highways, the opening of the TK New Airport in 2028 is expected to elevate the area into a world-class robot manufacturing industry base connected not only nationwide but also internationally.

Ha Jung-woo, CEO of Bear Robotics, stated, “Through this investment, we will strive to become a global leader in the service robot field and contribute to creating new jobs and revitalizing the local economy by distributing service robots across various industries.”

Mayor Hong Joon-pyo said, “The large-scale investment by Bear Robotics, a robot company from Silicon Valley, USA, is expected to create synergy with Daegu’s robot industry fostering policies and play a significant role in Daegu’s leap as a robot-centered city. We will spare no administrative and policy support to help Bear Robotics grow into a global leading robot platform company.”

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