Hyundai Motor demonstrates "Room Service Delivery by Robots” at hotels

[Smart City Today]

The era in which robots deliver room service menus and carry luggage at hotels is becoming a reality.

Hyundai Motor Group recently announced that it has launched a project to demonstrate autonomous delivery services using robots at Gwanggyo Alleyway, a residential and commercial complex in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and Rolling Hills Hotel in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province.

The robot used for the delivery service was built based on the Plug & Drive Module (PnD Module), which Hyundai Motor Group unveiled at CES 2022, which was held in the U.S. earlier this year.

Self-driving technology is applied to PnD modules that can move freely, and it is characterized by finding optimized routes in a given environment and delivering goods. Through technology, robots can avoid obstacles naturally, allowing faster and safer delivery.

The delivery robot can be combined with a storage space unit on top of the PnD module, a lower driving unit in charge of driving, to store and load heavy languages such as travelers. It is also possible to provide necessary information to customers by mounting a screen depending on the purpose of use and to deliver necessary items to customers by mounting shelves.

The recently launched service at Gwanggyo Alleyway is a D2D method in which robots find the exact location and deliver food ordered by customers at a shopping center connected to a residential and commercial complex to the front door of each generation.

The delivery robot opens the common front door through wireless communication to enter the apartment, calls the elevator in conjunction with the elevator control system, and delivers it to the ordered location.

The service was conducted as a part of a business agreement signed by Hyundai Motor Group in March last year with Woowahan Brothers for the purpose of research and development of delivery logistics robots. Hyundai Motor Group plans to continuously improve technology and services through various methods of demonstration operation at outdoor delivery robot service sites.

The demonstration at the Rolling Hills Hotel will be held from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. with the aim of discovering various services specialized in accommodation facilities and upgrading technology.

Guests can order simple food and beverage and amenity through Kakao Talk chatbots without installing a separate app, and robots can directly deliver ordered items or food to customers' rooms and customers can check the real-time status of delivery.

Delivery robots that serve at hotels are equipped with deep learning-based algorithms to recognize the environment and recognize people. It detects the opening of the door of the ordered room, recognizes people, automatically opens the loading box without the customer touching it, separates the customers subject to service, and transmits the appropriate screen and voice.

In addition, it is possible to move between floors without human help by linking the elevator and the signal, and it is possible to determine the number of people in the elevator and wait for the next elevator in situations where boarding is difficult.

The technology that robots freely travel indoors and outdoors and deliver food to the front door without human help is meaningful in that it is the last mile (final step to consumers) delivery innovation that the logistics and distribution industry is paying attention to.

The technology of robots freely traveling indoors and outdoors and delivering food to the front door without human help is meaningful in that it is the last mile (final step to consumers) delivery innovation that the logistics and distribution industry is paying attention to.

Based on the results of this demonstration project, Hyundai Motor Group plans to gradually expand the number and time of operating robots by supplementing the service.

Hyun Dong-jin, executive director of Hyundai Motor Group's Robotics Lab, said, "The delivery robot developed based on the commercially available PnD module can be delivered faster and safer even in complex environments with smooth autonomous driving. Through this demonstration project, we plan to steadily expand our business to various spaces that require delivery services such as large resorts."

Woowahan Brothers said they believe the robot delivery service will be used for ultra-short-distance or residential-commercial delivery, which is not well distributed due to last-mile delivery problems, creating new order demand, and they are confident that the cooperation between Hyundai Motor Group and Woowahan Brothers will serve as an opportunity to upgrade the delivery service industry.

Hyundai Motor Group released a video of the delivery robot operating at hotels on its official YouTube channel.