S.Korean robot startup aims to ramp up supply by 9 times

A South Korean autonomous-driving robot startup Neubility aims to increase supply by almost nine times this year as demand for such machines in the service sector is expected to surge.

Neubility, founded in 2017, developed the Neubie, a CES 2023 Innovation Award-winning self-driving robot, and the Nubiego, a Robot as a service (RaaS) platform. The Neubie introduced in 2021 is known as an autonomous robot suitable for last-mile delivery as it can deliver goods weighing up to 40 kilograms moving at 7.2 kilometers per hour, similar to the speed at which a person walk.

“It is a goal to supply about 500 units by year-end with the diversification of customers such as resorts, hotels and libraries,” said Neubility CEO Andrew Lee on Wednesday. The startup currently operates 58 robots.

“A startup cannot directly work on all of the related businesses. It is an effective strategy to focus on core technologies and create synergy with services and sales networks of other companies.”

Lee expected demand for service robots to rapidly grow, saying robots will make up 40% of delivery services for short distances of up to 3 km in the next five years. Service robot demand is predicted to double to about 11,000 units in South Korea this year from some 5,500 units in 2022, he said.

RAPID EXPANSION

Neubility is one of the fastest-growing self-driving robot startups in the country. The Neubie, subject to the government's regulatory sandbox that exempts or suspends existing regulations for a certain period of time on the release of new products and services, has been providing short-range delivery services since 2021 in Incheon, bordering the capital of Seoul.

The company joined hands with Samsung Welstory Inc., a food catering unit of Samsung Group, for food delivery services by robots at golf courses last year. It also tested robot patrol services recently at a women’s university in Seoul with local security service provider SK Shieldus Co. and the country’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co.

To expand its presence in the self-driving robot market, Neubility cut robot production costs with cheaper sensors and cameras instead of expensive lidar sensors while improving technology that enables the Neubie to check locations accurately and recognize obstacles in complex urban areas and bad weather.

“It is important for the autonomous driving robot business to use cheap sensors,” Lee said. “Once robot production rises to 10,000 units a year, the manufacturing costs can be lowered to some 6 million won ($4,663) per unit. That must fall to some 5 million won for the popularization of robots.”

Neubility has continued to attract investors based on its technology. Samsung Venture Investment Corp. provided 3 billion won earlier this month with a fund set up by investment from Samsung Electronics Co.

The startup has raised some 30 billion won so far from various investors including IMM Investment Co., Samsung Welstory, Lotte Ventures Corp., SK Telecom, Shinsegae Inc. and Kakao Ventures Corp.

Write to Joo-Wan Kim at kjwan@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.