ChefBot and BaristaBot... Companies Expanding the Industry Landscape

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[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] As the traditional concept of robots incorporates social elements, service robots such as baristas, servers, and hoteliers are entering our daily lives. Domestic companies are also designating robots as the next-generation growth engine and expanding the related industry market.

According to global market research firm Strategy Analytics (SA) on the 25th, the global robot-related market size is expected to grow about fourfold from $31 billion (approximately 37 trillion KRW) in 2019 to $122 billion (approximately 148 trillion KRW) in 2024. In particular, the social (service) robot market, which replaces human roles in various aspects of our lives, is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 13% from 2020 and surpass the industrial robot market size after 2025. It is anticipated to reach $80 billion (100 trillion KRW) by 2030.

As technological competition intensifies, the number of patents is also rapidly increasing. According to the International Federation of Robotics, the number of robot patents worldwide reached 4 million in 2020, more than three times the 1.2 million patents recorded 10 years earlier. The recent trend is a decrease in hardware patents for implementing various robot movements, with a focus shifting to software technologies that enable natural communication with humans. This is because the social robot market, which operates and provides services in diverse situations, is rapidly growing.

In Korea, KT is actively developing robot technology. In January last year, KT established the KT Robot Business Group and recruited Lee Sang-ho, who previously led the robotics division at ABB Korea and served as the head of the division. Through an organizational restructuring this year, the Robot Business Group created two specialized teams: the ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) Robot Business Team’ focused on business and the ‘AI Robot Platform Team’ with technical expertise. The scale has also expanded from four teams last year to eight teams and one task force (TF).

SK Telecom also invested 900 million KRW in 2016 and an additional 10 billion KRW last month in Cimes, a company developing AI robotics software. LG Electronics entered the robot market in 2018 and has been growing its brand ‘CLOi.’ Following disinfection robots, guide robots, chef robots, and barista robots, it recently introduced a lawn-mowing robot. Samsung Electronics is also concentrating its capabilities on robot development.

An industry insider explained, "As social robots are introduced in various service fields, related industries such as sensor AI are expected to be revitalized," adding, "Applications, accessories, and insurance markets related to social robots will also emerge."

Related technologies are also advancing dramatically. The ‘AI One Team,’ an AI industry-academia-research consortium led by KT, developed ‘robot social interaction’ technology to be applied to next-generation social robots. This technology, jointly researched by KT and KAIST professors Yoon Sung-ui and Cho Sung-ho, helps robots interact naturally with humans. The research team implemented an algorithm that recognizes users’ faces and behaviors and recommends actions for the robot to perform. Robots equipped with this technology gain cognitive abilities and social empathy. They can understand what people want through conversation and autonomously perform actions by recognizing the surrounding environment according to assigned roles and rules.

Professor Yoon Sung-ui said, "Until now, robot responses were monotonous and predictable," adding, "This technology allows robots to predict human behavior and assist with tasks as if humans were interacting with each other." For example, while existing robots follow a fixed scenario when cooking, robots with social interaction technology can assist even if the cooking order changes. Professor Cho Sung-ho also said, "The goal of the research is to enable robots to act like real humans according to changing situations," and added, "The era of natural communication between humans and robots is not far away."

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