▲The Robot News announced the 12 winners of the 2017 Korea Robot Company of the Year.

The Robot News announced the 12 winners of the 2017 Korea Robot Company of the Year.

Twelve companies were selected in seven categories that comprised Industrial, Professional Service, Personal Service, Educational, Parts, Robot SW, and Autonomous Driving Robots; the awards were based on overall considerations such as the company’s distinguished contributions to the progress of the robot industry over the last year, the company’s future prospects, the CEO’s management skills, new product launches and market reactions.

The 12 winners according to their respective categories are △ Three companies in the Industrial Robots Category: DST Robot Co. Ltd. (www.dstrobot.com, CEO: Jing Cheon, Myong-kyu Choi); TES Co., Ltd. (www.tes-robot.com, CEO: Seung-wook Ahn); NEUROMEKA (www.neuromeka.com, CEO: Jong-hoon Park) △ Two companies in the Professional Service Robots Category: FUTUREROBOT Co. Ltd. (www.futurerobot.com, CEO: Se-kyeong Song); MAROROBOTECH (www.marorobot.com, CEO: Deok-geun Kim); △ Two companies in the Personal Service Robots Category: YUJIN ROBOT Co., Ltd. (www.yujinrobot.com, CEO: Kyeong Cheol Shin); RF Co., Ltd. (www.rof.co.kr, CEO: Soonbok Lee) △ Two companies in the Educational Robots Category: ROBOTIS Inc. (www.robotis.com, CEO: Byoung Soo Kim); ROBOROBO Co., Ltd. (www.roborobo.co.kr, CEO: Chang-nam Jang) △ One company in the Robot Parts Category: SBB TECH Co., Ltd. (www.sbb.co.kr, CEO: Boo Rak Lee) △ One company in the Robot Software Category: Wonderful Platform (www.1thefull.com, CEO: Seung Yub Koo) △ One category in the Autonomous Navigation Robots Category: Unmanned Solution (www.unmansol.com, CEO: Hee Chang Moon).

For five of these companies, this year’s award is a consecutive win. In the Professional Service Robots Category, FUTUREROBOT Co. Ltd; in the Personal Service Robots Category, YUJIN ROBOT Co., Ltd and RF; in the Educational Robots Category, ROBOROBO Co., Ltd; and in the Autonomous Navigation Robots Category, Unmanned Solution were awarded this honor last year as well by The Robot News.

The following is a brief introduction to these companies in their respective categories.

DST (DST) Robot was founded in 1999 and became the first robot company to be listed on the KOSDAQ. Their head office is located in Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do. Their main operations center on production and sales of robots for manufacturing use and intelligent robots. The main products for manufacturing-use robots are the Cartesian Robot, Linear Robot, Desktop Robot, Scara Robot, Motion Controller, LTR (Glass Transfer Robot), Wafer Transfer Robot. For Service Robots, the company offers HerkuleX Servo, Mobile Platform, HOVIS Robot, Genibo Robot, and the Information and Guide Service Robot. As part of its strategy to secure competitiveness in the Chinese market, the company acquired a stake in the China industrial robot company “China Intelligent Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd” last April. It is planning the completion of a 2000㎡ mass production robot plant in Shenzhen, China, by the end of this year. The major shareholder is the Chinese Dixintong Group. As a distributor with over 3,200 mobile phone stores, Dixintong Group recently acquired Sambu Construction. It is expected to generate sales of 70 billion won this year.

Headquartered in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, TES Co., Ltd. was established in 2004 and is now Korea’s leading vacuum transfer robot for semiconductors and displays. The company’s main products include the vacuum transfer robot for the 10.5 generation LCD and 6th generation flexible OLED. They are also working on a universal robot dealership in preparation for the future smart factory. Recently, the company has begun work on rehabilitation robots for stroke patients, and logistics robots are in preparations for next year’s IPO entrance. Last September, the company conducted a groundbreaking ceremony for a second factory near their Osan headquarters, marking the company’s leap into the global market.
In particular, it entered into a partnership agreement with Applied Materials (AMAT), the largest semiconductor equipment manufacturer in the world, laying the foundation for further growth. As a result of high investment in semiconductors and display equipment the company achieved record-high sales of 49.1 billion won last year, and both industries are expected to enjoy sales of KRW 63 billion this year.

In the field of industrial robots, Neuromeka, a Korean collaboration robot maker, is currently enjoying wide attention as a leader in its field. Established in 2013, it is headquartered in Gangnam, Seoul. In pursuit of smart robots and smart factories, the company has sought to provide robot services as part of integrated hardware and software solutions based on IoT. Their main products include △ Low-cost type smart connected robot-based collaborative robot (Indy) and HRI interface △Fieldbus-based real-time embedded Linux-based robot controller△ Open embedded gateway and sensor for IoT service△ Actuator system △ Robot Simulation and controller software. “Indy,” neuromeka’s collaborative robot, is a low-cost, robust robot with smart capabilities; as an industrial robot, in 2016, Indy-RP, a research platform was launched; in March the industrial platform Indy 3/5/10 model; in September, Indy 7, to which the SW framework 2.0 was applied, was launched. The company expects to see sales of W10bn this year.

FUTUREROBOT Co., Ltd. is a professional service robot company, which was established in 2009 and is headquartered in Bundang, Gyeonggi-do. Their main products are the FURO series, which can be easily used in B2B environments for airports, banks, retail stores, hospitals, theaters, schools, and restaurants. They also offer open platform service robots that can quickly react to the user’s needs. This year, the company introduced the FURo-Desk, an interactive service robot that combines cloud intelligence with an electronic payment solution for use in cafes, restaurants or other stores to take unattended orders and to make popular dish recommentations. In August, Digitaloptics, a provider of optical equipment listed on the KOSDAQ, surprised the industry by acquiring 1,658,731 shares of FUTUREROBOT (50% + one share) for 10.45 billion won. Last month, the company concluded an MOU with the Educational Group Daekyo for the “Development of Educational AI Platform” and declared their entry into the educational robot market. The company will provide multilingual information services throughout the stadium with their AI interpreter robots at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games.

MAROROBOTTECH was established in 2008 and has its head office in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province. The company specializes in Logistics and Industrial robots. The company received attention when they developed the “QR Code Recognition Logistics Robot, M3” and began deliveries to the automated production and logistics sites for Korean small and medium enterprises. The M3 logistics robot recognizes the QR code attached to the bottom of the load, ascertains the exact position and direction, then lifts and transports the object (up to 200kg to 400kg). The weight of the robot is 100kg, and the traveling speed is 30cm per second; after a 4 hour charging time, it is possible to operate for 8 hours loaded and 12 hours unloaded. It can be remotely operated through WIFI and can be used as a standalone or for network integrated management. It is standard equipped with a photo sensor; LIDAR or bumper sensor is optional. The robot can operate in a user-defined route rather than a designated route, thus allowing its use in a variety of spaces, particulary in tight areas. At present, the company offers robots with carrying capacities of 200kg and 400kg; a robot with a carrying capacity of 1000kg is currently being developed as a new product.

YUJIN ROBOT Co., Ltd. is a personal service robot company that was established in 1988 and is headquartered in Geumcheon, Seoul. Their main products include the cleaning robot “iClebo” series, the delivery service robot “GoCart” and the mobile robot platform “TurtleBot.” The company is leading the domestic cleaning robot market with its premium cleaning robot, iClebo OMEGA, with its 110-fold increase in cleaning capacity, and collaboration with Disney for Marvel’s Iron Man and Star Wars R2-D2. This year, it was newly designated as an “Advanced Technology Research Center (ATC)” by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Recently, the company received an investment of 52 billion won from the German Miele Group to establish a new joint venture company Shiman in order to jointly pursue the development of products based on new applications and new robot technologies. The company is in the midst of constructing a new company building in the Knowledge and Information Industry Complex at Incheon, Songdo with a total floor area of 14,654㎡ on the 7723㎡ site. The company is expected to generate sales of 70 billion won this year.

Founded in 2014, RF Co., Ltd. is headquartered in Daegu. The company’s main product is “windowmate,” the magnetically-based intelligent window cleaning robot. 70% of its sales come from exports, and the market has responded well to this year’s launch of their 500,000 won budget version of the product. At “CES 2017,” the company took home two innovation awards for their window cleaning robot; at IFA2016, it was listed as a “TOP 5” noteworthy product. “windowmate” is an intelligent cleaning robot that uses powerful neodymium magnets to attach firmly to both sides of a window. Once the robot is attached to the window, the user presses a button and the robot recognizes the window frame and its attachment position and begins to automatically and simultaneously clean both sides of the window. This product allows the safe and easy cleaning of what was once a dangerous job. After its entry into the Japanese market in 2015, the company has exported 9,000 units in this year alone. The window cleaning robot can be used not only for residential houses but for commercial facilities such as hotels, restaurants, and coffee shops. They expect sales of W5bn this year.

ROBOTIS Inc. is an educational robot company that was established in 1999 and is a representative Korean company specializing in robot solutions. They are headquartered in Geumcheon-gu, Seoul. Their main business area centers on educational robot kits for infants all the way to professionals; the all-in-one actuator module DYNAMIXEL; and robotic parts. The educational robot kits include “OLLO” for young chilren, “DREAM,” “SMART” series and “MINI” for primary school kids, the “PREMIUM,” “STEP,” and “GP” for middle and high schoolers, and ROBOTIS OP, MANIPULATOR, THORMANG, AND TurtleBot 3 for professionals. TurtleBot 3, released in May this year, is a robot development platform that was jointly developed with OpenRobotics and features three advantanges: small size, scalability and open source. It has been scaled down for portability and has adopted the new DYNAMIXEL X series. The company is exporting products that contain the smart actuator DYNAMIXEL to the world including 40 countries including USA, China, Japan and Europe. The company is expected to generate sales of 18 billion won this year.

ROBOROBO Co., Ltd. leads the domestic education robot market. The company was established in 2000 and heads its operations from Kangbuk, Seoul. They specialize in the production and sales of educational robots, which have increased significantly due to increased exports over the last three years. Their main products are their “ROBO KIT” for education purposes to be used for those in primary, middle, and high schools, as well as in university, and ROBO KIDS for children. At the end of last year, the company carried out aggressive marketing activites by introducing a new children's coding robot “UARO” for young children, the educational coding tool "Coding Story" for primary school kids, and the deluxe humanoid coding robot kit "ROMANBO.” In spite of the difficult political situation over THAAD, sales in overseas markets including China increased greatly; last year, the company achieved $3 million in exports. Last week, on Trade Day, the company recorded $5 million in export sales this year. Also last week, the company received a Presidential Citation. It has 240 branches in China and is expected to generate sales of about W13bn this year. It is expected to be listed on KOSDAQ on December 19.

In the robot parts category is SBB TECH Co., Ltd. This components company has been trying to localize parts for over 25 years since its establishment in 1993. The company are manufacturing specialists of specialized precision driving parts which produce power transferring and driving devices for special equipment. Their head offices are located in Gimpo, Gyeonggi-do. Based on in-house technology, the company has been producing and supplying complex bearings for special environments and precision decelerators, which had previously been imported. Based on their original technologies, they recently developed modular robot actuators for the core componet of factory automation and collaborative robots in order to expand its business field. In recognition of this achievement, the company won Industrial Service Medal of the Korea Robot Award last week. In the field of robotics, they are engaged in projects such as MR (Modular Robot) robots, robot actuators, semiconductor robot parts, WRIST, semiconductor and LCD, and LED robot repair. In January of this year, it developed and began selling 3-axis robot and 5-degree-of-freedom and 6-degree-of-freedom articulated robot using the MR actuator that it successfully developed in-house. It is expected to generate sales of about 10 billion won this year.

In the robot software category is Wonderful Platform Co., Ltd., a start-up company established in January 2016 as a shared intelligent chatbot platform company. The company is garnering attention for providing a shared development platform for robots and chatbots. Their major businesses are chatbots, robots, vision, health care, and SW builder. Despite its short history, Wonderful Platform was selected as a promising ICT company (K-Global 300) with a high growth potential from the Ministry of Science and ICT in December last year. In August, it was registered in KSM (KRX Startup Market) operated by Korea Exchange. They are receving investment from Angel Investment Individual Association, formed by Skylake, and Elentec, a KOSDAQ listed company with 600 billion won in annual sales and a second Angel Investment. At the end of last October, the company acquired exclusive domestic sales rights for the Chinese company Qihan Technology’s Sanbot. With an artificial intelligence chatbot and hardware-based software business, the company’s robot business is expected to stretch out considerably.

In the autonomous driving category, Unmanned Solutions Co., Ltd. was established in 2008 and is located in Seocho-gu, Seoul. It is one of few companies in Korea to be in the business of developing unmanned autonomous vehicles, unmanned tractors and vehicle type robot platforms in Korea. Their major products include autonomous vehicles, robot platforms, and software development. It is a representative Korean company in the autonomous driving sector, making 70 to 80% of the autonomous vehicles produced in Korea. It is an unmanned systems development company that develops unmanned autonomous vehicles, unmanned tractors, and vehicle type robot platforms using commercial vehicles. The company possesses Korea’s only vehicle and platform drive control technology. The company developed and delivered TRAM, a 12-passenger self-propelled tram, which ran for 3 months beginning in June within the World Expo Kazakhstan in the Science and Technology Pavillion, attracting worldwide attention. The tram was independently developed, using only domestic technology. In a surprise move at the end of last month, Velodyne LiDAR, a global leader in 3D vision systems for autonomous vehicles, and Unmanned Solutions agreed to collaborate in the field of unmanned solutions and LIDAR sensors.

The award ceremony for “2017 Korea Robot Company of the Year”will be held at the Sheraton Seoul Palace Hotel in Gangnam, Seoul on December 20 at 11 am. After the awards ceremony, Director of Machinery, Robotics & Defense Industries Division at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Dong Il Park is slated to hold a meeting to wrap up the year with the Award winners.