“Robo Taxi, Robot Delivery…Robot Paradigm Coming”-Maeil Economy

◆ CES 2021 ◆

“After the Corona, human reluctance to robots, drones and self-driving cars has greatly decreased. Maybe this year will be a year when the paradigm for intelligent robots is shifted.” (Steve Koenig, Vice President of CTA)

What technology area will be the hottest topic at CES this year? Last year at CES, the term’Intelligence of Things’ emerged as a hot topic. ‘Things Intelligence’ is a term evolved from’Internet of Things’ and refers to the phenomenon of artificial intelligence entering each small machine. In fact, at CES2020, a dog food bowl with artificial intelligence, a belt, etc., were exhibited, showing the future of artificial intelligence in many places. So, is there a clear trend comparable to that at this year’s CES? The Maeil Business Daily summarized the contents of CES’ major technology trend announcements and asked for opinions to venture investors and technology-based startup founders working in the field of creating business with real technology. Then, one common answer emerged. Summarizing this in simple terms, it could be summarized in terms of’robot paradigm’. Looking back at this CES presentation and exhibition contents, unlike in the past, expectations for robot technologies that can actually help human life such as robo taxis, robot delivery, and robot care services are growing more than ever.

◆ Decreased rejection, increased skill

Hee-cheol Hwang, general manager of Blue Point Partners, an accelerator that invests primarily in technology-based startups, said, “There have been no major success stories in the service robot market for the past 20 years, but after seeing the announcement of CES, I think it will be different now.” “It will be a year in which the paradigm for intelligent machines will change as people get used to robots.” In fact, CTA announced that day after the coronavirus, more than a quarter of the surveyed people have become fond of machine delivery. He said, “I think it was because of an unfamiliar interface that suppressed the expansion of the market for artificial intelligence and robots,” he predicted. “But now, the market will grow even larger as the perception has changed.” He said, “Unicorns will be created from delivery robots, factory automation robots, conference robots, fire control robots, and guidance robots.”

In fact, human-friendly robots such as robots that sterilize public places such as schools with ultraviolet rays have appeared in this CES exhibition hall. Also exhibited were the sympathetic robot (PARO) that relieves the feeling of loneliness of the elderly, and the robot (AV1) that provides a’virtual outing’ service for patients suffering from rare diseases. “It was difficult to see robots used in areas other than home appliances in 2019,” said Sang-ho Lee, CEO of Mandro, a humanoid startup that exhibited at CES twice in 2021 following 2019. “But this year, delivery robots, service robots, humanoids Various robots, such as appearing, feel a sense of disparity,” he explained. ‘Mandro’ also exhibited a prosthetic arm that embodies the movement of a person’s arm with motion sensors.

The related technology is also ripe here. This is because 5G has begun to be introduced in earnest from this year, and artificial intelligence is evolving to a level that is practically applicable. Verizon CEO Hans Bestberry introduced the fact that UPS, an American delivery company, is using 5G to deliver goods through a keynote speech.

CEO Ha Jung-woo, who founded Bear Robotics, a startup that provides robotic services that serve food by autonomous driving in restaurants, said, “It seems clear that the combination of 5G mobile artificial intelligence will increase interesting challenges in the robot market.” “It will be a match to find a market for robot products that can satisfy the large demand of tens of thousands of units.” It is true that the demand for robots is increasing, and the technological conditions to create artificial intelligence robots are correct, but the problem is that it is not easy to find a market that can supply products in large quantities to meet the desired unit price in the market. He emphasized, “In order for robots to be used more, a solution of process technology for small quantity production of a variety of products must be accompanied,” he said.

◆ Robots, not humans, provide data

After the robot is built like this, more sophisticated artificial intelligence is created from the data collected as the robot moves. Only then is the’robot paradigm’ formed. Ik-jin Ahn, who founded the artificial intelligence startup Moloco in Silicon Valley, said, “I thought that robots, drones, mobility, etc. will progress considerably, looking at the report of CTA.” It is the time, and if a lot of data is spewing out of autonomous vehicles, drones, robots, etc. in the future, artificial intelligence technology will inevitably receive a better view. He predicted that the use of artificial intelligence technology would increase further in companies such as manufacturing and service industries. Founder Ben Horowitz of Andersen Horowitz, the legendary VC of Silicon Valley, also recently predicted through his blog, “As artificial intelligence assists or replaces the work of existing software, the demand for artificial intelligence at the enterprise level will increase significantly.” .

Sang-Hwan Sang-hwan, leader of Naver’s D2 Startup Factory (D2SF), which mainly invests in technology-based startups, predicted that interest in artificial intelligence will continue to be concentrated. He said, “(In this CES technology outlook session), various technology keywords were mentioned, but if only one key is selected, it is artificial intelligence,” he said. “Robot, mobility, digital healthcare, augmented reality, 5G, All the detailed trends converge into one without exception, and that’s the explosive data that humanity has never experienced since similarity.” However, he said, “It is a matter of who quickly breaks the learned and modeled results based on the pre-corona past and establishes and applies a new decision-making model.”

◆ Another hot topic’digital healthcare’

In addition, at this CES, the topic related to digital healthcare received hot attention due to the corona pandemic. Lee Tae-Hwi, CEO of M2S, a Korean startup who received the CES Best Innovation Award, said, “The field where competition was the most intense in the process of selecting the CES Best Innovation Award this year was digital healthcare.” He said, “The medical treatment through the remote and the doctor is being opened in earnest.” In fact, at this CES, not only Philips, but also companies such as Bosch and Omron have announced new telemedicine-related diagnostic devices. M2S, which won the CES Best Innovation Award, also provides technology to perform eye examinations in virtual reality, and is piloting it to the Middle East as well as domestic government hospitals in the non-face-to-face era. He predicted, “With the rapid growth of mobile and IT technology, the huge trend of digital healthcare is already unstoppable,” he said. “Like a science fiction movie, we will scan people, diagnose health, and even reach remote medical treatment and treatment.” He further said that the possibility of the’digital therapy’ market should also be seen. It refers to treatment using games or contents In fact, in the case of M2S, the patient uses a VR device and moves the eye muscles while viewing the content. If this process is developed into treatment, the eye muscle rehabilitation treatment is performed.

Hee-cheol Hwang, general manager of Blue Point Partners, also predicted, “There are still inefficient parts in the medical market, but as ICT technology is widely applied, not only the remote medical market, but also the market for home medical devices, healthcare, etc. is expected.”

◆ Pay attention to non-face-to-face economy, ESG-related technologies, and blockchain

Hwang also said that it is necessary to pay attention to the technology trends that enable various remote experiences in a non-face-to-face environment. “As people are forced to work from home because of the corona, they have fully adapted to the interface environment and have found a more efficient aspect here,” he said. “For students, online learning is more effective without having to travel to school or academy and physical fatigue. As a result, technologies that can make working from home or online learning more like a field will be introduced after the coronavirus.” Technologies such as hologram, virtual reality, and realistic sound fall into this category. He also said that people’s interest in the community is growing due to the corona, and that technology trends that can solve issues such as global environment, sustainability, and health could be promising.

Sang-Hwan Sang-hwan, leader of Naver’s D2 Startup Factory (D2SF), predicted that interest in technologies that can support the economy’s back, such as small business owners and self-employment, will increase. “In an era where technology adoption and application is faster than ever, it means that the gap between early adopters and technology misfits is widening,” he said. “Especially after the coronavirus, most small businesses are financially weak enough to have less than two months of cash reserves. “Do” he said. In particular, as the same problem is occurring not only in Korea but also around the world, technology and business models that mitigate the impact of these technologically vulnerable small businesses will be in the limelight, he predicted.

Both leaders also said that the block chain was relatively poorly viewed at this CES. He said, “The current mega technology trend is based on the premise that the disconnection between people and the remote situation is fixed, and rather, it is developing in a direction to accelerate it further.” In a very limited state, we have to rebuild,” he said. He thinks that there will be a large space where blockchain can play an active part. Leader Yang said, “We expect to open a market that can prove the potential of blockchain, which has been hidden by cryptocurrency, such as transparency of transactions, economic life in a virtual world, and connection of heterogeneous platforms.”

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