SEOUL, South Korea — Safety measures and social distancing practices due to Covid-19 are boosting the popularity of so-called “untact” services in South Korea thus promoting the Fourth Industrial Revolution technology based on artificial intelligence (AI), reports the Korea Bizwire.
Many companies have been increasing spending on automation, including robot purchases, in light of the pandemic.
The International Federation of Robotics estimates that there are 774 industrial robots per 10,000 employees installed in South Korea, which has a higher automation rate than the European average of 114 robots, Germany at 338 robots, and Japan at 327 robots.
Industry watchers predict the COVID-19 outbreak will further speed up production automation for companies around the world.
Meanwhile, as social distancing is becoming the new norm, service robots are also rapidly spreading.
For example, Dal.komm Coffee, a major coffee franchise, recently opened its 70th robot café, b;eat, at Samsung Digital Plaza’s Megastore Cheongju headquarters.
At b;eat, robots complete the entire process, from ordering to pick up, as a non-face-to-face unmanned service.
