KT expands use of self-driving delivery robots to campgrounds

South Korea's KT Corp. has launched a delivery service for campgrounds using self-driving robots.

The telecom giant on Tuesday said it signed a memorandum of understanding with the platform Camping Talk and construction company Camping Outdoor to expand to the outdoor self-driving robot sector.

Camping Talk supports searches, reservations and payments for campsites with about 450 partner companies nationwide and offers search services for campsites to its customers. Camping Outdoor specializes in building sites for camping and glamping, or upscale or "glamourous" camping, and runs a large glamping site covering 33,000 square meters in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province.

KT recently started pilot service for its outdoor self-driving robots and provides such services at sites for glamping and picnics, swimming pools and cafes. For example, a user orders an item with a QR code inside a tent and a delivery robot brings it to the front of the tent.

Under their agreement, the three companies will expand the base of delivery service by self-driving robots at campgrounds. They will use the campsite that introduced KT robots as the flagship store and cooperate in product development to provide services tailored for campsites.

Since 2021, KT has launched robots like those using artificial intelligence and others performing quarantine and hotel work based on its self-developed robot integration platform. The company offers a host of related services such as pre-consulting, robot installation, remote control and network construction.

At last month's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, the company also unveiled Robot Makers, a cloud-based integrated robot control platform that connects the infrastructure necessary for robot use. Through the recent addition of an outdoor delivery robot that can adjust temperature and humidity, services that had been limited indoors have been expanded for outdoor use.

"We will contribute to creating a better connection between people through robots usable by customers in a range of environments," said Lee Sang-ho, head of KT's AI robot unit.

Write to Seung-Woo Lee at leeswoo@hankyung.com