– 40 kg-Class Drone and Autonomous Robot Delivery Tech Validation
– Chungnam, Jeju, Sacheon, Jinju… Multi-Region Field Demonstrations
The Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA, Administrator Taeseog Oh) announced that it has developed a drone-robot collaborative unmanned delivery system capable of carrying heavy payloads of up to 40 kg in cooperation with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI, President Se-woong Park). Field verification of the system under real-world operating conditions was conducted in the Sacheon area from Wednesday, August 5 to Thursday, August 20.
Existing drone delivery services have faced limitations in directly delivering goods to customers due to the restricted areas accessible by drones. The newly developed system overcomes these limitations by integrating drones and autonomous robots to enable direct delivery to users’ desired locations.
KASA is continuously identifying potential risks that may arise in the process of applying the drone-robot integrated delivery system to actual services and conducting verification in real operational environments to develop solutions and enhance system reliability.
To this end, KASA has been conducting field demonstrations in cooperation with research institutions, local governments, and related companies. Starting with the Naepo area of Chungnam Province in 2025, demonstrations have continued in major regions, including Jeju (March to April 2026) and Sacheon (August 2026), with additional demonstrations scheduled to be conducted in Jinju from late August. KASA also plans to gradually conduct overseas demonstrations to establish a foundation for entering global markets, based on experience gained through domestic demonstrations,
[Details of Field Demonstrations]
Naepo New Town, Chungnam Province (December 2025, 40 times): Book deliveries from Chungnam Library (drone) → Hongbuk-eup Office Naepo Branch parking lot (station, robot) → Naepo Middle School.
Jeju (March-April 2026, 89 times): Daily necessities deliveries from Geumneung Port Drone Delivery Center (drone) → Biyangdo Docking Station (station, robot) → 56 delivery points on Biyangdo Island.
Sacheon (August 2026, 60 times): Parcel deliveries from a private logistics center (drone) → Sacheon City Hall parking lot (station, robot) → three delivery points at Sacheon City Hall, including parcel storage facilities and civil service offices.
Through these field demonstrations, KASA is verifying the performance and safety of drone and robot systems based on various operational scenarios, including flights carrying heavy payloads for more than 15 days while taking into account weather conditions such as strong winds and extreme heat, as well as terrain and communication environments. KASA is also implementing improvements based on issues identified during the demonstrations. Furthermore, KASA is systematically analyzing technological limitations and operational risks that were not identified in the development process and establishing improvement measures to prepare for the implementation of actual services.
Drone-robot integrated delivery technology is expected to provide a foundation for meeting various logistics demands by transporting heavy payloads of up to 40 kg. Its applications are also expected to expand beyond urban delivery services to logistics-vulnerable areas.
KASA Administrator Taeseog Oh said, “To enhance the reliability of unmanned delivery systems integrating drones and robots, which are still in the early stages of development, we will make every effort to conduct field demonstrations in areas with potential demand and to overcome technological limitations.”