KT, Hyundai Robotics collaborate on 5G industrial robot

KT employees pose beside the "5G Smart Factory Industrial Robot" at Hyundai Robotics' showroom in Gwangju, Gyeonggi. [KT]

KT and Hyundai Robotics will release a 5G-connected industrial robot that can handle tasks too risky for human workers, the mobile carrier said Tuesday.

The robot is the latest outcome of the smart factory collaboration between the two to find ways to use the 5G network with machinery and equipment in industrial production sites.

Industrial robots are massive machine arms that move heavy parts at high speeds. Compared to smaller robots' arms that conduct tasks like drilling or painting, these larger industrial robots are assigned work that is too dangerous to be handled alongside human workers.

On Hyundai Robotics’ industrial robots, KT’s 5G-connected “Factory Makers” platform offers remote maintenance, production control, predicting the equipment’s life cycle and offers a rounded report that summarizes the robot’s state and performance. The platform will work on KT’s “corporate 5G network” available only to the company’s employees, separated from the commercial 5G network for general consumers.

“High-speed, low-latency 5G networks are a must to enable factory robots to move fast and manage the massive volume of production-related data that flows in and out,” KT said in a statement. “But companies also have to prioritize security and [network stability for] quality control — that’s where KT’s corporate 5G network comes into use.”

Since KT and Hyundai Robotics signed a partnership deal in May 2019, the two companies have released 5G-connected collaborative robots — referring to the smaller robot arms that can work beside humans — and a machine vision solution that can find faulty products using image analysis based on artificial intelligence technology.

As part of a drive to take that partnership further, KT made a strategic investment in Hyundai Robotics to acquire 50 billion won ($43.2 million) worth of stock after Hyundai Robotics goes public in 2022.

“With the industrial robot, we’re expecting to develop a wider variation of solutions through our partnership with Hyundai Robotics,” said Moon Sung-wook, a KT executive of new corporate businesses.

BY SONG KYOUNG-SON [song.kyoungson@joongang.co.kr]