SK Telecom has joined hands with POSCO, a global steel company, to collaborate on AI-based industrial safety and quality inspection.

SK Telecom (CEO Park Jung-ho) announced on the 27th that it signed a business agreement with POSCO for cooperation in industrial safety and quality inspection AI solution technology.

Since early this year, the two companies have been working together in Pohang and Seoul to exchange smart solution technologies to enhance worker safety in large-scale manufacturing facilities and expand the application of AI in quality inspection, a key competitive edge in the manufacturing industry.

First, in the field of industrial safety, we will collaborate on developing technologies and solutions that utilize autonomous robots and drones to disinfect workplaces or detect risks and abnormalities.

To this end, the two companies installed the autonomous quarantine robot 'Keemi' at the POSCO Center in Gangnam, Seoul on August 17 and began trial operation.

The two companies will also cooperate in developing and expanding solutions to reduce worker casualties caused by recurring hazardous gases.

The 'Smart Safety Ball' developed by POSCO is a baseball-sized hazardous gas detector that is nearing commercialization. When thrown into a confined space before a worker begins work, it can detect hazardous gases such as nitrogen.

In addition, you can receive warnings in advance through smartphones and other devices via communication networks.It is expected that this will play a major role in reducing safety accidents, such as fatalities, that occur in confined spaces as well as in manufacturing areas, as it can confirm teeth.

SKT plans to pilot the Smart Safety Ball at major manufacturing affiliates within the SK Group and actively collaborate in the future expansion process.

Additionally, the two companies will actively cooperate to mutually apply their solutions in the field of AI-based quality inspection and to jointly commercialize the products.

SKT's 'AE Sensor Solution' is an AI quality inspection solution that uses deep learning to determine the degree of product defects based on various information such as sound and video, and the two companies plan to apply it on a trial basis to POSCO's production process.

POSCO's deep learning-based AI quality inspection solution, Smart SDD (Surface Defect Detector), is an in-house technology that is currently under consideration for independent commercialization. The company plans to enhance the competitiveness of its Smart SDD technology and jointly pursue commercialization with SKT.

Kim Ki-soo, head of POSCO’s Process Engineering Research Institute, said, “From the perspective of technology development, it is truly rewarding to see technologies developed to meet the needs of each field meet technologies in other fields to become more advanced and create new value.” He added, “I hope that this collaboration with SK Telecom will serve as an opportunity for the technologies and solutions of both companies to make industrial sites safer and further enhance the competitiveness of the Korean manufacturing industry.”

SK Telecom Smart Factory CO (Company) Director Choi Nak-hoon said, “This collaboration is very meaningful as it brings together SK Telecom’s AI capabilities and POSCO’s field-oriented technology/solution capabilities with global competitiveness in the manufacturing field to collaborate on specific items.” He added, “We will ensure that the results of the collaboration between the two companies contribute to enhancing industrial safety and securing quality competitiveness in Korea.”"Everyone said," he said.