HL D&I Hanra announced on the 7th that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to promote the development of a Divot repair robot in collaboration with HL Mando, which possesses autonomous driving control and sensor technology, and Daedong, a company specializing in AI robotics.
The event took place on the 6th at the main conference room of HL D&I Hanra's headquarters located in Songpa District, Seoul, with representatives from each company in attendance.
The 'Divot repair robot' features the capability to accurately detect and restore damaged areas of grass on golf courses based on artificial intelligence (AI) image recognition technology and global positioning system (GPS) autonomous driving technology.
It can operate autonomously at night without any guests and automate the labor-intensive grass restoration tasks, reducing labor costs.
HL D&I Hanra will develop an AI platform that can automatically detect the location of divots on golf courses and perform automatic restoration. HL Mando will develop the autonomous driving software for the Divot repair robot to support automated restoration work through route generation and autonomous driving technology. Daedong will be responsible for the hardware development for path following and restoration work of the Divot repair robot.
The three companies plan to showcase the Divot repair robot at the world's largest IT and electronics exhibition, 'CES 2026,' to be held in Las Vegas, USA. They intend to complete prototype development by the second half of next year and begin demonstration projects targeting major golf courses in Korea.
Meanwhile, HL D&I Hanra has developed a 'golf course operation platform (high smart platform)' that applies drone technology, which has been used for various purposes such as surveying, process management, and safety management at construction sites, to create a three-dimensional (3D) representation of the course or analyze the growth condition of grass on the course.