Korea Introduces Home Robots

Internet-hooked robots make debut

The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) on Wednesday (June 29) took the wraps off several URC robots, which are all hooked up to the Web via the Internet.

...the ministry will start a feasibility test with five of them designed for home usage by releasing 64 dummies of the five models to households in Seoul and its vicinities in October.

“After confirming the commercial viability of these models through a pilot run, we aim to launch home machines with a price range of between 1 and 2 million won late next year,” said Oh Sang-rok, MIC project manager who is in charge of the URC scheme.

Instead of pouring money to catch up with sophisticated robots like Japan's Asimo, arguably the world's most advanced walking robot, the ministry took a unique approach of using the country's state-of-the-art Internet infrastructure.

Oh's team braced for a paradigm shift of outsourcing most sensing and processing capabilities through connection to the high-speed Internet, while moving capabilities are provided by the robots.


Internet-hooked robots make debut | Korea.net News