Korea's SK Telecom jointly develops AI patrol robots

SK Telecom Co., along with its partner firms, will develop artificial intelligence (AI) robots that will replace security guards patrolling around schools and factories, and complete commercialization within this year.

The mobile carrier announced on Tuesday that it has developed a "self-driving AI patrol robot" jointly with autonomous driving delivery robot developer Neubility and integrated security service provider SK Shieldus.

This is a robot that moves in designated areas in a manner of any other self-driving robot, detects unusual events, delivers images to the control center and sends out warning signals.

The three companies decided to work together to launch the service within this year by signing a main contract in the second quarter, starting with the MOU signed on Tuesday. The marketability of this robot service will be reviewed for schools, factories and public organizations that require 24-hour surveillance but have many closed-circuit TV blind spots.

Prior to commercialization, the companies are piloting the robot at Duksung Women's University in northern Seoul from Feb. 22 to Mar. 10. The robot autonomously drives a 900-meter interval, sending videos from the site to the control center and making recorded announcements when necessary.

After completing the pilot operation, they plan to investigate the level of satisfaction and additional needs of security personnel at the school, supplement the service for commercialization and finalize the specifications and functionalities of the robot by the end of this month.

"We upgraded Neubie, the self-driving delivery robot of Neubility, to a cost-effective patrol robot to reduce the price burden," said an SK Telecom official. Newbie lowered the production cost by implementing autonomous driving through cameras instead of expensive LiDAR.

"Starting with this agreement, we will continue to work with SK Shieldus and Neubility to make various everyday spaces such as apartment complexes and industrial sites safe with self-driving robots beyond university campuses," said Choi Nak-hoon, SK Telecom's Industrial AIX CO.

Write to Han-Gyeol Seon at always@hankyung.com