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.