On Oct. 8 of this year, Korean robots will invade the U.S, ruthlessly hunting down delicious meals and then hand-delivering them to elderly Americans in a joint commercial test involving U.S.-based Horst Construction and Korea-based Yujin Robot. Horst Construction is a 120-year-old retirement community-building company, while Yujin Robot is a robotics company dedicated to “creating intelligent robots that help humanity.”
The cold-eyed, warm-hearted robot that will deliver all of these delicious meals with maximum efficiency is called GoCart. The GoCart is touted as “the world's first meal-transport robot designed to operate in all elderly and health care facilities,” according to Yujin's press release.
GoCart is autonomous, and like a larger version of a Roomba, it maps its environment via an array of sensors and cameras to autonomously deliver its food while dodging people and other obstacles. It has an Internet of Things-based interface that integrates with other existing devices like smartphones and PCs.
There will also be another joint test in Sweden in partnership with ScanBox, a manufacturer of food transport systems for hotels, hospitals, schools, and elderly care facilities all over the world.
“The strategic partnership between ScanBox, Yujin Robot, and Horst Construction represents the best of Europe, Asia, and North America, and we are excited by the growth prospects generated by the tremendous synergies from this multinational alliance,” said Robb Cheek, Yujin Robot’s business developer. “Private and public elderly care facilities worldwide already face labor shortages and skyrocketing costs, and fiscally constrained governments’ must provide high-quality care for their seniors while controlling costs. All can now benefit from our robotic meal-transport system. Everybody wins.”
Everybody except the food.