For some months, Naver has indeed been experimenting with incorporating robots into office life. A fleet of roughly 100 robots drive around on their own within a futuristic, bluntly industrial 36-story high-rise here on the outskirts of Seoul, traveling from floor to level on robot-only lifts and occasionally close to people, pushing through security gates and even entering conference rooms. And, probably most pleasingly, they didn't whine. That's because they were robots!
The new employees whizzed around the workplace, executing routine jobs such as getting coffee, delivering lunches, and passing off items. They didn't get in anyone's way or invade anyone's personal space. They waited for elevators unobtrusively and politely.
Naver's online services network, which includes a web browser, maps, email, and news aggregation, is powerful in South Korea; but somehow, it lacks the global reputation of a corporation like Google.
The organization has been looking for fresh expansion opportunities. It agreed to pay $1.2 billion for Poshmark, a web secondhand retailer, in October. Therefore, Naver views the software that runs robots in corporate offices as a commodity that other firms could want in the future.
Mechanical Helping Hand
Robots certainly established themselves in various sectors, such as manufacturing, retail, and entertainment, but they are mainly missing from the cubicle and conference room or the corporate world. Experts warn that a machine brimming with sensors and cameras roving business halls may become a nightmarish weapon of corporate monitoring if exploited. Developing a setting where machines may move freely without bothering employees is also a difficult task.
However, Naver has conducted a substantial study to ensure that its robots, which mimic a rolling garbage can, appear, move, and act in a way that is pleasant for employees. While it builds its very own robot privacy regulations, it intends to lay the groundwork for future office robots. Kang Sang-Chul, an official at Naver Labs, a company producing the robots, stated that their focus today is to reduce the pain they bring to humans.
Personnel at technology companies are frequently encouraged to test their innovations; but by using its robots, Naver effectively transformed its whole office into a development and research lab, employing its employees as research subjects for employees on the innovations.
When Naver workers drive to the workplace, which was completed this year, the business automatically sends them parking reminders via the workplace app. Employees pass through face recognition security gates while disguised to avoid the transmission of the coronavirus. Artificial intelligence software recommends areas of attention for workers' yearly health exams at Naver's in-house health clinic.
Designing and Developing the Bots
Naver began construction on the office in 2016 after designing it entirely ground up with robots in mind.
When a robot arrives, every door is designed to open. There are no narrow corridors or impediments on the floor. To assist the robots in orienting themselves, the ceilings are tagged with figures and QR codes. Robot delivery lanes are available at the cafeteria.
Naver has also released papers on the subject of human-robot interaction as part of its research published in IEEE Xplore. Naver, for example, decided after a series of studies that the best place for a robot in a packed elevator with people was the corner adjacent to the door on the lateral side of the elevator buttons. The researchers at Naver discovered that placing the bot at the rear of the lift made people feel uneasy.
Engineers at the firm also created dynamic eyes that look in the directions that the robots are moving. Researchers discovered that if employees could see the robot's eyes, they were greater able to anticipate its action. Hardly any of the machines appear to be humans. Mr. Kang stated that the corporation did not want people to believe that robots will behave like humans.
Naver isn't the only technological business attempting to enhance robotics. Rice Robotics recently employed large numbers of cartoonish, clunky robots in office towers, shopping malls, including grocery stores around Asia to deliver deliveries, food, and other items. Robots including Optimus, a model introduced by Tesla in September, are supposed to behave more human-like, carrying boxes, watering plants, and other tasks, although they are still a considerable distance from being implemented.
Another distinguishing aspect of Naver's robots is their being "brainless," which means they aren't rolling processors that process information within the machine. Instead, the robots connect in real-time with a centralized "cloud" computer system over a high-speed, secure 5G network. The motions of the robots are analyzed using data through sensors and cameras.
Corporate Compliance and Data Privacy
Every robot is equipped with many cameras that capture photographs of its surroundings. Throughout Naver, there had been some discussion over what the robots required to know and exactly how the data acquired would be utilized. Engineers initially intended the robots to capture a larger field of vision to determine their whereabouts more quickly and precisely, as per Lee Jin-kyu, Naver's chief information security officer.
Mr. Lee was concerned that this might result in information that could be used to follow employees without their permission, causing legal issues for the firm in South Korea, where labor and privacy regulations are severe. Mr. Lee and the designers agreed to take one image per second from the front-facing camera and use the other devices only when enough than one image was required.
The cameras can only view below people's waists, and images are erased after the robot has aligned itself. Unless a robot is toppled over rather than the camera angles shift abruptly, an emergency mode is activated. In such circumstances, the robot informs the user that it may capture their faces.
Despite Naver's measures, privacy experts are concerned that potential customers may tweak the robots or set their policies around data collection. As per Kim Borami, a security lawyer in Seoul, many South Korean corporations are transparent about their data rules, and she has seen incidents of companies abusing privacy regulations, as stated by The New York Times.
She also stated that it was hard to determine exactly whether Naver was adhering to its internal privacy regulations without thoroughly inspecting its software, which Naver somehow doesn't release publicly. Naver claimed to be following South Korean legislation governing employee private information and monitoring. However, developing regulations on the fly is part of the issue with modern workplace technologies.
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