Naver has exported its smart building operation technology to Japan, marking a new entry into the Japanese market following its messenger service (Line) and webtoon platform (Line Manga).
Naver said on the 23rd that Team Naver, together with Japanese telecommunications company NTT East and real estate development and investment firm Mitsui Fudosan, will supply smart building operation technology solutions to the Tokyo Midtown Yaesu Building. Completed in 2022, the Midtown Yaesu Building is a 45-story structure with a total floor area of 300,000 square meters, considered one of Tokyo's landmark mixed-use real estate developments.
Team Naver will provide an integrated package of technology infrastructure to Midtown Yaesu, including autonomous driving robots, a cloud robot control system, and digital twin technology currently in use at its second headquarters, 1784, in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Mitsui Fudosan will manage the robot delivery service and the linkage between technology and facilities, while NTT East will be responsible for building the digital twin environment and maintaining the delivery robots.
As the first result of the collaboration, the three companies will launch a cloud-based robot delivery service within the building. Naver's indoor autonomous driving robot "Rookie" will be used. As many of Team Naver's technologies are applied—including its vision-based positioning technology "Arc Eye," its multi-robot control system "Arc Brain," and digital twin technology—more diverse services are expected to be attempted in the future. The three companies are also exploring cooperation in indoor augmented reality (AR) navigation and digital twin-based building management.
This case marks Team Naver's first commercialization example of applying its smart building model externally. Naver Labs' robotics and vision technologies were used under the leadership of Naver Cloud's Japan business development division.
The case is evaluated as significant in that the technology was optimized to provide seamless service even in buildings that were not designed with robot operation in mind. For Naver, having pioneered another domain in Japan following the success of Line and Line Manga is also encouraging. Team Naver has accumulated robot sensor and spatial data by providing robot delivery services at its 1784 headquarters, while also advancing its service execution capabilities.
Team Naver plans to apply the 1784 model to various sites at home and abroad, including in Japan. To this end, it plans to advance its core technologies so that robot services can be provided in a variety of buildings regardless of facility environment.
