사진 확대

South Korean artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor companies and robot companies will enter the water robot market to detect and purify seawater pollution at crude oil production sites in Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern oil-producing countries.

On the 8th, AI semiconductor startup Revelion announced that it signed a business agreement with Ecopis, a water purification robot and AI company, to promote the "Korea-made NPU-based K-Water Robot Project" at the Revelion office in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do last month. Based on this agreement, the two companies plan to implement △ technology development and commercialization of domestic NPU-based K-water robot solutions △ discover joint business models in the water purification robot and AI fields △ joint entry of domestic NPU-based water purification robot solutions into overseas markets.

Previously, the two companies conducted a verification of the integrated operation of real-time water pollutant detection and self-purification solutions in local waters of the United Arab Emirates through the "AI Semiconductor Overseas Demonstration Support Project" organized by the Ministry of Science and ICT and implemented by the National Information and Communication Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA).

In particular, the two companies continue to cooperate in the rapidly growing eco-friendly market in the Middle East. Currently, Middle Eastern oil-producing countries are experiencing problems with limited human access or difficulty predicting the timing and location of pollution, although seawater pollution at crude oil production sites is intensifying. As a result, demand for unmanned water robot solutions that can automatically detect pollutants and autonomously perform purification operations is increasing, especially from major companies such as Aramco.

To meet this demand, the two companies will further advance eco-friendly water robot solutions that combine precision AI modules such as real-time image analysis, AI-based distance measurement, and autonomous path optimization. In addition, based on the high-performance and high-efficiency inference infrastructure provided by domestic AI semiconductors, it plans to complete an autonomous purification system optimized for the Middle East marine environment and actively respond to the local market.

Revelion and Ecopis have proved representative successful cases of combining domestic NPU and eco-friendly water robots through the NIPA overseas demonstration project, said Park Sung-hyun, CEO of Revelion. "With this business agreement, the two companies will work more actively to prove innovative achievements of domestic AI semiconductors and K-water robots on global stages including Saudi Arabia." Chae In-won, CEO of Ecopis, said, "Ecopis will do its best to become a 'number one company' that leads the global AI water quality solution market based on the technology convergence of K-robot and K-semiconductor."