Factories and Logistics Are Industries That Require Replacement of Manpower... TWINNY, Leading Innovation Based On Self-Driving Robots

In Korea's serving robot market, foreign robots account for about 90%, and price rather than technology determines competitiveness. TWINNY selected target markets other than serving robots based on its autonomous driving technology. We targeted markets such as factories, logistics, order picking, and last mile, that focus on technology, rather than the serving area, where it is relatively difficult to demonstrate competitiveness. Kim Hyeok, head of TWINNY 's strategic planning department, emphasizes that our robot industry should focus on markets where technological demands exist, unlike the serving robot market, which requires relatively less advanced technology.

TWINNY’s self-driving robot business strategy

Until now, in the domestic serving robot market, price rather than level of technology has determined a company's competitiveness. This is because serving is an area that requires only repetitive movements in a limited space.

TWINNY selected target markets other than serving robots based on its technology. We targeted markets such as factories, logistics, order picking, and last mile that focus on technology rather than the serving area, where it is relatively difficult to demonstrate competitiveness.

Factories and industries are industries where the demand for replacement of human resources continues. Although the domestic market is large, there are many cases of companies failing to dominate the market due to lack of technology. TWINNY analyzed that 3D LiDAR would be the solution here. In existing 2D LiDAR, workers performed remapping operations more than once a month to reset the robot's movements. The introduction of 3D LiDAR increases production efficiency by allowing the robot to continuously recognize its location without the operator having to remap it.

Currently, TWINNY has a factory platform that applies autonomous driving functions to forklift robots, contributing to reducing costs incurred in actual factories. In this process, TWINNY provides a driving platform incorporating autonomous driving technology to develop robots that respond to various factory sites. In relation to this, the factory-type drive unit base platform ‘NarGo Factory’ is scheduled to be released at the end of this year.

Order picking refers to a series of processes in which workers at a distribution center with a high-mix, small-quantity system find items identical to the order specifications, collect the items ordered by customers, and move them to the packaging process.

Although order picking was not standardized, it was highly dependent on manpower because various types of goods had to be packaged in small quantities. The key point here is that the part that requires the worker's judgment is the process of recognizing the items in the order specification and checking whether the collected items match the order specification. TWINNY developed an order picking robot because it believed that other parts could be replaced by robots.

Order picking robots are introduced to sites that adopt the Zone Picking method, which picks only items stored in the worker's zone. It has the advantage of being able to drive even if the logistics center layout changes and being able to link with WMS. The robot is a technology that maximizes efficiency in utilizing human resources. This is an example of efficient use of current robot technology in that only human cognitive abilities are utilized in the order picking process, and the rest of the repetitive tasks are replaced by robots.

The last mile area is part of TWINNY's future-oriented business strategy. TWINNY predicts that robots will replace riders active on delivery platforms in the future. TWINNY has already demonstrated services such as coffee delivery within corporate buildings and elevator linkage using its robots. We also have a scenario where delivery is possible at shopping malls, etc. TWINNY is planning a business with the ultimate goal of providing a delivery service. To this end, we conducted a demonstration in collaboration with the Korea Post in 2021. Afterwards, the outdoor last mile dedicated robot ‘NarGo Delivery’ was launched.

Factories and Logistics Are Industries That Require Replacement of Manpower... TWINNY, Leading Innovation Based On Self-Driving Robots (hellot.net)