The Korea AeroSpace Administration launched a pilot of an unmanned delivery service in Jeju that links drones and robots. A drone carries cargo to near the delivery destination, and then a robot delivers the item to the customer's doorstep.
The Korea AeroSpace Administration said on the 24th that it is building a doorstep delivery system based on drone-robot collaboration with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI). The system consists of a drone capable of carrying up to 40 kg of cargo, a collaborative robot, and a docking station.
The core of this project is to establish a transport system in which a drone that departs from a logistics warehouse lands near the destination via autonomous flight, and a robot takes over the cargo and moves it to the final delivery point. While existing drone delivery was limited to transport to the landing site, this system is distinct in that it uses a robot to connect the process all the way to the doorstep where the customer actually receives the product.
On Mar. 26, the Korea AeroSpace Administration began a roughly one-month pilot around Biyangdo, about 1.5 km from Geumnyeong Port in Jeju. When Biyangdo residents and users ordered products through Jeju's public drone delivery app "Mukkebi," tests were conducted in a way that items were received at the delivery point through the drone and robot delivery system.
The pilot was conducted not only under various weather conditions but also at night. Through this, the Korea AeroSpace Administration checked for technical and environmental issues that could arise during actual delivery service operations. After addressing the improvements identified in this pilot, the Korea AeroSpace Administration plans to expand the pilot areas in the second half of this year.
O Tae-seok, head of the Korea AeroSpace Administration, said, "This pilot, through collaboration with local governments, will both showcase the efforts and achievements in nurturing the drone-robot industry so far and resolve issues that must be addressed for commercialization, thereby accelerating the realization of unmanned delivery services that will innovate logistics going forward," adding, "We will continue related support with a goal of commercializing unmanned delivery services using drones and robots within five years."