Korea working on armed robocops

Korea is promising armed security robots within five years

South Korean scientists plan to develop security robots that will guard public areas and pursue criminals, the head of a government-funded research centre said this week.

Lee Ho-gil, head of the country's Center for Intelligent Robotics told the Korea Times that development work will begin next year if the plan is approved.

In a separate project, the South Korean government will start to develop armed military robots this year.

According to plans announced in October, the country's defence and information ministries are co-operating on a five-year $32.4m project to develop a heavily-armed insect-like battlefield robot armed with a variety of weapons.

The robot will be fitted with six or eight legs with wheeled 'feet' to allow it to operate on rough terrain.

"The robots will be directed by a remote control system or move autonomously via their own artificial intelligence systems," Oh Sang-rok, a ministry of information and communications project manager, told reporters this week.

Korea's government sees robotics as a potential $100bn industry by 2020, officials said last month.

A new national science and technology development plan calls for the establishment of a robotics science park near Korea's capital of Seoul, which will house 20,000 engineers, scientists and other experts. Neighbouring Japan is also investing heavily in robotics research.

The International Federation of Robotics predicted last year that more than seven million robotic devices will be sold worldwide between 2005 and 2008.

While most of these will be domestic machines, such as floor cleaners, about 50,000 will be in the professional category, which includes defence and security.

In addition to the government efforts several private Korean companies have developed robots, some of which were exhibited at the recent CES show in Las Vegas.

These include Hanool Robotics, which has built unarmed robots for the Korean military, and Mostitech, which began manufacturing a basic home security robot in 2004.