Naver recently exported its smart-building operating technology for the first time to Tokyo Midtown Yaesu, a key commercial district in Tokyo, Japan. It marks the first case in which the physical artificial intelligence (AI) technology Naver has been testing at its second headquarters "1784" in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, has been commercialized for an overseas client. The project is seen as a turning point in Naver's expansion of its smart-building business into the global market.
The project applied Naver's autonomous delivery robot "Rookie," its multi-robot control system "ARC Brain," its vision-based positioning technology "ARC Eye," and digital twin technology. Under the structure, robots move through the building on their own while the control system simultaneously manages multiple robots and building facilities.
ARC Brain identifies the location and movement paths of robots in real time and connects with building facilities such as elevators and automatic doors to support their movement. ARC Eye precisely calculates a robot's location based on information collected through cameras. A key feature is that it allows robots to recognize indoor spaces and navigate without installing large numbers of separate high-cost sensors.
Naver has directly operated and advanced these technologies at 1784 for several years. At 1784, multiple Rookies move through the building, delivering parcels, food and beverages to employees. Naver has also built an environment where robots can move without human assistance by connecting robot-dedicated elevators, automatic doors and a control system.
At Tokyo Midtown Yaesu, the technologies verified at 1784 were redesigned to fit the local building structure and operating methods. Yaesu has no robot-dedicated elevators, and robots cannot board the regular passenger elevators, so Naver newly built a movement system using freight elevators.
Naver linked ARC Brain with the existing building facility control system so robots could use automatic doors and freight elevators. When a robot receives its destination, ARC Brain calculates the movement path and delivers the necessary commands to the building's facilities.
Japan's disaster response standards and usage environment were also reflected. Naver separately established an operating policy to halt robot operations or move robots to designated locations in the event of an earthquake or fire. To make robots' movements easier to predict, the movement paths were simplified, and the operating speed was set lower than at 1784.
A distinctive feature of the project is that it did not simply transfer completed technology but reconfigured the system to fit the local building's structure and operating rules. Naver's technology structure, which includes robot hardware, a control platform, positioning technology and building facility integration technology together, served as a strength during the localization process.
Naver develops not only the design and manufacturing of robots but also the software that controls their movement and the cloud-based control system. According to the company, because each technology can be integrated into a single platform without relying on external solutions, functions can be easily adjusted to fit the environment of each building.
At Tokyo Midtown Yaesu, the technology will first be operated centered on robot delivery services. Going forward, Naver plans to expand the scope of application to include indoor augmented reality (AR) navigation and digital twin-based facility management.
Using digital twin technology, the flow of people and robots can be analyzed in a virtual space identical to the actual building, and the condition of facilities can be inspected. It can also be used to predict congestion inside the building or to verify optimal robot movement paths in advance.
The smart building Naver is pursuing differs from a business that supplies a single robot. The core is building a "Spatial Intelligence" platform in which AI grasps information on building interior spaces and facilities and comprehensively manages robot movement and facility operations.
The Tokyo Midtown Yaesu project is significant in that Naver applied the robot and digital twin technologies it accumulated at 1784 to an external client environment for the first time. Based on this, Naver plans to expand its physical AI business in the global smart-building market, including Japan.
