Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- Instead of receiving food delivered by human workers, students at Konkuk University in Seoul are getting food provided by autonomous delivery robots in a pilot project launched by the operator of South Korea's top food delivery service app Baedal Minjok.

Woowa Brothers said on Monday that five Dilly robots were mobilized for a test service until December 20 to deliver food from three restaurants located inside the Konkuk campus to designated pickup spots. Customers can use the Baedal Minjok app to order food and wait at the pickup spots. Dilly delivery robots find the quickest route to deliver food.

Dilly runs on six wheels, travels at a speed of up to five kilometers per hour and delivers 12 drinks or six sandwiches at a time. It can drive for more than eight hours on a single charge and drive at night with lights.

Woowa Brothers and Konkuk University have cooperated in a project to commercialize autonomous delivery robots since May this year. The delivery service operator said Dilly received positive feedback from students through a closed-beta service in September.

"If the robot delivery service is expanded in the future, consumers will be able to enjoy a more convenient non-face-to-face service and restaurants will get additional sales opportunities," Woowa Brother's delivery robot research head Kim Yo-seob was quoted as saying.

In an effort to differentiate its services from other delivery service operators, Woowa Brothers founded in 2011 has focused on converging technology with various delivery methods. Dilly, a lineup of autonomous delivery robots, has been tested at restaurants.

Last week, the company launched a rental program to provide an autonomous waiter version of Dilly to restaurants. The waiter Dilly can carry food for four tables at a time and return dishes and trays back to the kitchen. The subscribers of the Dilly rental program will be charged 900,000 won ($765) a month under a two-year contract.

South Korea's food delivery service market is backed by some 200,000 workers who use the transportation of motorcycles. Smartphone apps are used widely so that customers can order lunch boxes, salads and side dishes from local restaurants as well as food from special non-delivery restaurants. While many restaurants operate their own delivery workers, major online delivery services link their businesses with small and mid-sized delivery agencies to offer services around the clock.

Drones have gained attention in South Korea because of their versatility. In 2016, Yogiyo, a food delivery company, made a successful test flight of an auto-piloting food delivery drone in an urban apartment complex. However, the commercialization of drone food delivery services has a long way to go due to technical and other problems.