AETECH is heightening its expectations for achieving the breakeven point (BEP) this year. AETECH, established in 2020, is expected to emerge as a prominent company in its fourth year of founding if it achieves its goals as planned.

AETECH is a startup that has developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-based waste resource sorting robot solution. It has automated the recycling resource sorting work that was previously done by human hands, recording at least a 2x increase in work efficiency and contributing to resource circulation.

The background of the confidence in its performance lies in 'building a smart factory' and 'developing household solutions.' The former is an unmanned center that replaces all tasks such as waste sorting, washing, compression, and transportation with robots. The goal is to start experimental operation in the second half of the year. The latter is a collaboration with SK Eco Plant. It is carrying out a technology development project for purchasing conditions for joint housing (apartments).

'Waste Sorting' AI Robot Targets a 1 Trillion Won Market

AETECH is a startup solving the recycling waste problem. It has developed the AI robot 'Atron' that sorts waste instead of humans. It has applied for a total of 11 domestic and 6 international patents with its own technology. Aitron sorts around 100 pieces of waste per minute. It is 2.4 times faster than human work, but costs 2.8 times less.

Resource sorting is considered a rapidly advancing market for automation. There is an expectation that robots will solve the labor shortage. Ryu Jae-ho, AETECH's Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), explained, "Recycling sorting facilities are suffering from a serious labor shortage," and continued, "The turnover rate and labor costs are high, but industrial accidents occur frequently."

The differentiating factor of Atron is its 'high performance, low cost.' Firstly, it has raised the accuracy of object recognition to 99.3% by incorporating AI. It goes through the stages of △object detection and data collection △monitoring △object selection and data filtering △analysis of waste types and characteristics △sorting. As the operation proceeds, the AI algorithm also evolves.

It has also secured price competitiveness. The robot delivery price is half the level of its competitors. CSO Ryu mentioned, "AMRobotics (USA), valued at 800 billion won, has a price of around 500 million won per robot, but we are half (approximately 250 million won)," adding, "There is not a significant difference in performance including sortable items, sorting speed, and accuracy."

The estimated total market size for domestic residential and business waste treatment companies is 23 trillion won. The size of the core profit market (SOM) set based on the top 25% companies is 1.4 trillion won. According to AETECH, it is possible to create an annual maximum of 240 billion won in sales by assuming the sale of 7 robots per company.

Goal to Sell 40 Robots and Achieve BEP This Year

This year is expected to be the 'year of achieving the BEP and turning a profit' for the company. They expect sales growth through the delivery of at least 30-40 robots. They currently have contracts for more than 10 units. The target sales are set at over 7.5 billion won. Last year's sales were 2.3 billion won. This is a 23-fold increase compared to 2022.

They are first expanding the 'two-track' contract with private and public institutions. In particular, they are conducting a demonstration project with the Seoul Business Agency (SBA). They plan to start full-scale delivery of the 'Dual Atron' model with dual robot arms starting from the Songpa-gu District in Seoul this year. Among the 25 districts in Seoul, 15 have waste sorting facilities. There is great potential for expansion.

They are also actively establishing their own waste sorting facility. They are building an unmanned robot resource circulation center of approximately 500 square meters in Incheon to equip a smart factory-type sorting facility. Atron sorts waste alone and robots handle all processes. The goal is to conduct test operations and actual operations in the second half of the year. They anticipate an increase in operational sales.

They are also conducting a technology development project with SK Eco Plant to release a new Atron product for joint housing. They are developing a household waste sorting robot solution that can be applied in apartment complexes. If the technology development is successful, robots can be supplied to actual apartment waste sorting facilities.

They have also carefully planned their export strategy. AETECH has completed market research in Southeast Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and North America. The main common points are △high population density in urban countries △internalization of recycling waste markets △possession of stable resource recovery policies. They also showcased their technological capabilities at the world's largest electronics exhibition 'CES' in Las Vegas, USA, and at the '2023 Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC)' in Barcelona, Spain.

Lee Young-ah, Reporter

Original Article Link