티스토리 뷰
Korean Robots Set to Take Over the World
At the laboratories of Yujin Robot, the iRobi Q is performing for researchers in a final test before it goes on sale. Born after four years of intense work at the small company, the 45cm robot can teach English, sing, and speak the news and weather from the KT network. It also has a monitoring function that lets its owners watch their homes while they're out. The company’s president, Shin Kyung-chul, is confident in his product. “The iRobi Q has already been tested and approved by kindergarten children,” he said.
With several robotic products ready to hit the domestic and the international markets, Korea's robot industry looks set to become a new driving force for the economy. In addition to Yujin, companies like DasaTech, Hanool Robotics, IZI Robotics and Samsung Electronics are preparing to release robots, some of which will cost around W2 million (US$1=W944).
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Korean companies are expected to make headway into the world household robot market, which currently is comprised of just cleaning machines.
According to a 2004 report by the International Federation of Robotics, Korea ranked 6th in the world in terms of robot market size and 5th in the number of robots used. The government aims to grow the industry to among the world’s top three by 2013 with a global market share of 15 percent, and it expects that household robots will clear the way.
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Korean robots have already attracted attention abroad. At the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January, a Microsoft researcher cited iRobi Q as the perfect subject for a robot operating system the software giant is working on. The UBOT, a self-navigating robot vacuum that follows barcodes hidden on floors, won the CES Innovations Awards for its maker Microbot of South Korea.
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Korean companies are making significant achievements in the industrial robot sector, too. Hyundai Heavy Industries, which has some 50 researchers working on robots, sold 350 auto-making robots to Kia Motors’ plant in Slovakia late last year and signed a contract to supply 600 more to Hyundai Motor for its plants in China and the Czech Republic. It's on the verge of signing another contract with Kia Motors to outfit its plant in the U.S. Hyundai's robot sales soared from W50 billion in 2002 to W130 billion in 2006, and they're expected to grow to W250-300 billion by 2010.
Currently the world's industrial robot market is dominated by six German and Japanese companies. Korea has only a third of the research workforce of those two nations, but it's catching up fast thanks to its top-class IT industry. For example, last year Hyundai Heavy Industries developed a robotic welding system that groups several robots together. It's important that the robots be able to “talk” to each other and “sense” each one’s location, so Hyundai developed a complex system to allow that.
“We did it thanks to Korea’s world-class network technology,” said Dr. Kim Sung-rak of the company’s robot development team. “I think there's a good chance that Korea can lead the world robot industry if it further combines its IT and robotic technologies.”