Disinfecting robots part of agreement between SK Telecom, Posco

Tech

Published: 29 Aug. 2021, 17:04 Updated: 30 Aug. 2021, 15:00

Disinfecting robots part of agreement between SK Telecom, Posco

Posco's head of Process & Engineering R&D Center Kim Ki-soo, left, and SK Telecom's head of the Smart Factory division, Choi Nak-hoon, pose for photos after signing a business agreement on Friday. Standing to the left of Kim is Keemi, SK Telecom's automated cleaning and disinfecting machine. [SK TELECOM]

SK Telecom and Posco signed a business agreement on Friday that will allow the two companies' workplaces to be safer through the use of automated machines and artificial intelligence (AI) programming, the two companies said on Sunday.

According to SK Telecom, the two companies have been cooperating since earlier this year to use their strengths to ensure a safer work environment and maintain high-level quality control of their products. Friday's agreement made the collaboration official.

Posco will first install SK Telecom's automated cleaning and disinfection robot Keemi in its factories across the country. Posco has already started using Keemi at its Gangnam Posco Center in southern Seoul to disinfect and detect any potential hazards within the building, and will later adopt Keemi at its other offices.

SK Telecom's automated cleaning and disinfection robot Keemi is installed inside Gangnam Posco Center in southern Seoul as a part of SK Telecom and Posco's business agreement signed on Aug. 27. The two companies will work together to make their workplaces safer. [SK TELECOM]

SK Telecom will help Posco upgrade and commercialize its Smart Safety Ball gadget. The Smart Safety Ball is a baseball-sized machine that detects harmful gas and can be thrown inside a workplace area before staff enter the space.

SK Telecom will start using the Smart Safety Ball in the manufacturing facilities of its subsidiaries and later provide it to other companies.

SK Telecom's AI programs will be used for product quality control at Posco. The telecom company's AE Sensor Solution will use deep learning technology to sensor sound and videos to manage a product's completeness.

The telecom company will also help Posco develop its own deep-learning quality control AI program dubbed the Smart Surface Defect Detector.

"This cooperation is a meaningful joining of SK Telecom's AI capacity and Posco's on-site manufacturing technology that will be used to produce specific items together," said Choi Nak-hoon, head of SK Telecom's Smart Factory division.

"We hope that the results of the agreement will contribute to Korea's industrial safety and competitiveness in manufacturing through quality control."

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]