On the 7th at the 1st Supply Group Smart Logistics center inside the Army Combined Logistics Depot in Sejong, an industrial robotic arm as thick as a person's forearm grabbed a folded box and unfolded it in an instant. A robot next to it put supplies inside and finished the packaging, and the box moved along a conveyor under a three-dimensional (3D) vision camera. When the camera read the destination, weight, and size and sent them to the server, an orange palletizing robot as big as a person extended its arm and stacked the boxes by destination. Next, an unmanned forklift lifted the pallet and headed to the storage warehouse.
These are the logistics automation robots that the Army began introducing in earnest in April. In this 8000-pyeong logistics center building, five robots handle four of the six logistics processes. In the logistics center, unmanned automation equipment has been introduced in one of the 16 warehouses, each 1200 pyeong in size. Thanks to the partial introduction of robots in the center, the 1st Supply Group cut on-site personnel by 16%, and reduced overall logistics processing time from an average of eight days to five. The average daily shipments equal the load of 15 14.5-ton trucks.
The Army's logistics support method is shifting to AI and unmanned systems. Robots and AI have begun to take over tasks once carried out by hand, such as carrying, sorting, and moving. If the purpose of automation at corporations is to cut labor costs and improve management efficiency, the military's purpose is different. It is a question of where to use personnel. Ha Heon-chul, the Army Director General for Logistics (major general), said, "The aim is to convert the personnel saved by deploying robots and the like into maintenance capabilities where new weapons systems are being fielded."
Management has also been digitized. In the logistics center's command and control room, the inventory status of combat equipment and various medicines can be checked at a glance. If an unmanned device develops a problem, the system alerts managers and tracks the processing period. As processes have been automated, errors such as misdeliveries have also decreased. Of more than 80,000 supply packaging cases last year, there were 36 misdeliveries caused by people, but since robots and the AI management system were introduced in April, there have not been any misdeliveries.
The Army's goal is to apply robots and AI across the entire process, from inbound goods to storage, inventory control, sorting, and release. To that end, it will expand the current single Smart Logistics center to three and complete the introduction of an AI-based warehouse management system and logistics robots by 2035. It is also developing an AI logistics support model to forecast demand for supplies. At the 1st and 5th Logistics Support Commands, demonstration projects for unmanned transport vehicles and forklifts are underway.
When things get faster inside the warehouse, the outside must keep up. That is why the Army is building a mobile logistics support system in parallel. First, it will expand the PLS system in stages. This system rapidly loads and unloads pallets onto vehicles, using a hydraulic machine linked to a large truck to place the container on the vehicle body. It was developed by a domestic small and midsize company. The time needed to load and unload supplies has been cut to one-third, it said. The Army plans to secure 349 sets by 2040.
It is also preparing an energy supply system for wartime. By the end of this year, it will invest 20 billion won at the Sangmu Training Center to carry out the Army's first microgrid pilot project. It consists of a mobile generator, an energy storage system (ESS), and a power distribution system. The goal is to supply power independently even if the external grid is cut off. Developing it as mobile is a measure to account for the maneuverability of combat units. The Army plans to broaden energy sources to hydrogen and others going forward.
It is also pushing a "keyless Army." Until now, firearms and ammunition have been managed with keys. Going forward, it will use mobile work system phones (AMOS), near-field communication (NFC) without a power source, and biometric authentication technology. AMOS is held up to the lock to open it.
Director General Ha said, "By leveraging private-sector expertise along with AI and robots, we will create conditions for service members to focus on training and operations and provide the logistics support needed by combat units in a timely manner."