"Delivers Lunch and Even Cleans Up"… The Surprising Identity of the Delivery Person

Last month, KOSDAQ-listed SME robot company Yujin Robot deployed its autonomous logistics robot GoCart in the underground shopping mall at Bupyeong Station in Incheon. The robot's main tasks include delivering food and beverages to shopkeepers and transporting trash from stores throughout the mall, which is lined with clothing and accessory shops. Yujin Robot plans to deploy additional GoCarts with increased battery capacity and improved sensor performance within the year. This initiative has been hailed as a significant step forward in integrating service robots into everyday life.

According to industry reports on the 26th, the market for autonomous logistics robots targeting last-mile delivery is rapidly growing. The "last mile" refers to the final delivery stage where goods reach the consumer. E-commerce demand has surged since the COVID-19 pandemic, driving rapid growth in the last-mile market. Autonomous logistics robots are gaining attention as a technology to streamline this most-costly phase of the logistics process.

Launched by Yujin Robot in 2016, GoCart is an autonomous robot capable of omnidirectional movement, equipped with 3D scanning LiDAR. It was the first robot in Korea to be ISO 13482 certified, essential for exports to Europe, and is now exported to six countries, including the U.S. and several in Europe. So far, GoCart has been primarily used as a shuttle robot in European hospitals, transporting medicines in COVID-19 wards or carrying surgical instruments to sterilization facilities. Last month, as part of the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy's robot demonstration project, two delivery service versions of GoCart were deployed in the underground shopping mall at Bupyeong Station.