Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- Doosan Mobility Innovation, a drone solution provider in South Korea, has partnered with a Chinese company to develop special-purpose robots powered by hydrogen fuel cells that can be used for fire fighting and monitoring. The two companies aim to produce their products by the end of this year and sell them in China and other countries.

Doosan Mobility Innovation (DMI) said in a statement on February 9 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with CITIC HIC Kaicheng Intelligence, the robot-making wing of China's heavy mining and cement equipment maker CITIC Heavy Industries. The two companies will jointly develop fuel cell-powered robots that can put out fires and monitor disaster sites.

Through the partnership, DMI hopes to secure a bridgehead into the Chinese fuel cell equipment market and expand its fuel cell expertise to ground mobility. "By utilizing fuel cells, firefighter robots will be able to operate longer and become lighter compared to those using conventional batteries," DMI CEO Lee Doo-soon was quoted as saying.

DMI's partnership with the Chinese robot maker is part of the drone maker's aggressive expansion. The company joined hands with Marineworks, a domestic smart ship solution company, in January to develop technologies that use fuel cell drones to help ships navigate more accurately and safely. DMI is involved in a government project to supply fuel cello drones for military use.