The Ministry of SMEs and Startups launched this year’s biggest startup festival in South Korea, the COMEUP 2020, from November 19-21. The three-day event aims to connect startups and business ventures under the theme “Meet the Future – Post Pandemic.”
The second day took on topics such as quantum computing, open innovation, robotics, and artificial intelligence, remote work, and the future of manufacturing.
Robot & AI: Bringing the Future of Hospitality to the Present with Robotics and AI: Hype and Reality
John Ha, Founder-CEO of Bear Robotics Inc., delivered a speech at the COMEUP event last Friday on Bringing the Future of Hospitality to the Present with Robotics and AI. Ha owns a Korean restaurant in Silicon Valley, where he realized the need for innovation in the hospitality industry. Before becoming an entrepreneur, he acted as Assistant Professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and worked as a Technical Lead at Google.
As robotics technology finds its way into our everyday lives, startups began investing in innovative products based on robotics.
Bear Robotics Inc. creates AI robotic products and services for the foodservice industry. John noticed a shortage in the workforce when he managed his restaurant and thought of ways to address it. People shifted even more to contactless food and delivery services due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Restaurants like Eatsa and Spyce already utilized robots to assist people in overcoming physically demanding work. John also stressed that AI robots in the hospitality business would enhance people’s roles in their daily lives. Robots could only assist humans and perform a single role well but could not do multiple roles like humans. The robots would help humans simplify tasks and not replace them.
Panel Discussion: AI for the Real World
After John Ha’s agenda speech on the future of robots in hospitality, the panel discussion focused on the usefulness of artificial intelligence (AI) in the real world.
Moderated by startup VoyagerX CEO Se Dong Nam, the panel included CEO/Co-Founder of AI image processing startup mAy-I Jun Hyuk Park, Founder, and CEO at Allganize Chang Su Lee, CEO/Co-Founder of 3SECONDZ Jae Woo Kim, and founder of Rocketlogistics and OPENUB Chang Hee Hwang.
The panelists talked about how artificial intelligence influenced their activities, discussing various approaches to applying AI in their field. The startups employed AI to create predictions and analysis that would enhance their respective businesses. They also mentioned that data gathering is crucial for AI to work efficiently in any field. Additionally, small startups could succeed if they adopt AI to improve their services and enhance people’s everyday life.
Panel Discussion: Augmenting Offline with Robot and AI
In this panel discussion, panelists discussed the relevance and usefulness of robots and AI in an offline setting. The panelists comprised of Jong Hoon Park, an active expert in the robot control area in the industry and developed a series of industrial collaborative robots (cobots), Jin Hyo Kim, CEO of Dogugonggan, and Andrew Lee, CEO of Neubility, a company that creates autonomous software for last-mile Robotics.
Sung Jae Hwang, an entrepreneur, investor, inventor, and founder of a retail-tech Korean startup, LOUNGE LAB, proceeded as the panel discussion moderator.
Automation through robotics created comfortable jobs, improved people’s lives, and provided basic income for people. Robots in offline mode perform diversified roles like autonomous driving robots, industrial and cooperative robots, and delivery robots.
The panelists discussed the future of offline automation in the future. They mentioned that mobility and automation would significantly advance to different sectors and industries, and the general home. Robots would also enhance our way of living, like doing household chores. In addition, startups and developers could collaborate as a collective intelligence that could provide various services and solutions.
