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[2023 Daejeon Creative Economy Innovation Center Startup CEO]

 HandaLab, Developing Autonomous Driving Robot and Infrastructure for Electric Vehicle Automatic Charging

[Hankyung Job & Joy = Reporter Lee Jin-ho] HandaLab is a startup developing autonomous driving robots and infrastructure for electric vehicle automatic charging. CEO Kim Sang-min (42) founded the company in November 2021

CEO Kim has an engineering background in developing semiconductor, LCD, LED, and battery inspection equipment.

“I’ve always had a mindset of continuous learning and a passion for developing new things and taking on challenges. While thinking about what I could do with my skills and passion, I applied for the industry-academic-research-finance consortium project organized by the Korea Institute of Science & Technology Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP). I analyzed business models and created prototypes to present to the judges. As a result, I established HandaLab as a joint research corporation and was able to proceed with technology advancement (R&BD) research for the commercialization of the prototype.”

HandaLab possesses core technologies for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including autonomous driving, artificial intelligence, robotics, secondary batteries, and VR digital twin technologies. The company is committed to solving various problems by combining these converging technologies and continuously conducting research to achieve its goals.

HandaLab is pushing forward with the research and commercialization of autonomous charging robots for electric vehicles under the Ministry of Science and ICT’s 'BIG Leading Project Based on Public Research Achievements' by the Korea Institute of Science & Technology Commercialization. In 2022, it completed a demonstration project for autonomous charging robots in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and Sejong City. By the end of 2023, HandaLab plans to offer electric vehicle charging services using robots.

HandaLab’s core items include:

• Autonomous driving robots and platforms for electric vehicle automatic charging
• SMVS (Smart Monitoring Visual System)
• Autonomous Omni-directional Monitoring System (AOMS)"**

 

HandaLab is a startup developing autonomous driving robots and infrastructure for electric vehicle automatic charging. The autonomous charging robot and platform consist of charging robots, collaborative robots, mobile batteries, control systems, mobile apps, etc. The company has completed the development of a mobile rapid charger and plans to launch the product after final certification.

CEO Kim emphasized, "The products applying our technologies are differentiated from existing products in terms of autonomous driving capability, robotic precision positioning technology, and mobile rapid chargers."

"With traditional charging methods, human intervention is required to open the charging port of the electric vehicle and connect a separate charging kit for the charging process. However, HandaLab’s products provide a one-stop service for connecting charging terminals using robots, eliminating the need for human intervention. Traditional autonomous charging robots are limited in responding to various unexpected situations since they only use sensors on the robot itself. However, our products use V2X communication to gather real-time road map information, infrastructure, and other data to actively respond to unexpected variables and perform efficient distributed management and control."

SMVS (Smart Monitoring Visual System) is a monitoring system consisting of inspection devices, camera modules, and recording devices, analyzing real-time images through deep learning to detect anomalies in processes and equipment products and providing feedback to the systems. HandaLab has developed and is supplying the SMVS, an AI deep learning-based intelligent monitoring system using CCTV cameras to detect product defects, safety incidents, equipment issues, and more in various industries.

"SMVS can apply deep learning for real-time object recognition, enabling real-time factory monitoring. It includes features such as visualizing inspection results, search functions, and storing data and images. It also allows for saving video footage in seconds before and after a defect is detected. Additionally, it can be customized with a GUI and integrated with MES servers and supports various processors (CPU, GPU) and platforms (Windows, ROS, etc.)."

AOMS (Autonomous Omni-directional Monitoring System) is an autonomous monitoring system using autonomous driving devices, inspection devices, camera modules, recording devices, and deep learning technology to analyze and store real-time 360° VR images of entire factory processes, equipment, and products, providing feedback. AOMS is a mobile monitoring system equipped with autonomous driving capabilities that patrols fixed routes at set times, capturing and delivering 360° omnidirectional footage.

"When anomalies occur in production lines, users can monitor and store images from any desired direction. The robot’s end effector can perform simple movements or move objects. In cooperative observation mode (using a 360° VR camera attached to a collaborative robot), the autonomous robot can monitor areas where it cannot drive or where there are risks of obstructions, providing full-direction monitoring."

Since its establishment, CEO Kim has said, "We are solving the problems we once imagined, one by one, with the members of HandaLab. I feel a sense of accomplishment when we create the technologies we set out to achieve and receive positive feedback from those who need them."

Regarding future plans, CEO Kim stated, "We will expand the service using electric vehicle charging robots," and aims to achieve a revenue target of 3 billion KRW in 2024.

HandaLab was selected as one of the core companies for the ‘Daejeon Open Startup Space’ at Daejeon Startup Town, based on its competitive items. The Daejeon Open Startup Space is being built in the Gung-dong public parking lot area in Yuseong District, with a land area of 3,631 m² (1,100 pyeong), a building area of 11,592 m² (3,512 pyeong), and a 2-story underground to 4-story above-ground structure, scheduled to be completed in November 2024. This project was selected through the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ ‘2020 Startup Park Creation Project’ competition, with the theme of ‘Innovation Technology Startup Cluster for K-Unicorn Companies - Daejeon Startup Park.’ The Daejeon Creative Economy Innovation Center, along with Chungnam National University, KAIST, Shinhan Financial Group, Bluepoint Partners, and 14 other key startup-related institutions, is participating as a partner. The Daejeon Open Startup Space will play a central role in connecting Tip Town and seven startup support facilities. The goal is to create a distributed cluster where entrepreneurs, investors, support agencies, and researchers exchange ideas and design successful startups.

Establishment Date: November 2021
Main Business: Development of autonomous driving robots and infrastructure for electric vehicle automatic charging
Achievements: Corporate-affiliated research institute, venture company certification, 4 registered patents, 2 patent applications, ISO 9001/14001 certifications

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Reporter Lee Jin-ho