11/29/11. A contingent of guardian robots will join the ranks of a South Korean prison in the coming months.
It will be in the jail of the eastern city of Pohang, where in March they will test for a month three of these peculiar jailers.
The robots will monitor whether the inmates carry out any abnormal behavior, so according to the researchers who are on the project, they will help reduce the workload of other guards.
The robots, which measure 1.5 meters, have been created by the Asian Forum for Corrections, a group of South Korean researchers specializing in crime and prison policies.
These surveillance machines move on four wheels and are equipped with cameras and other sensors that allow them to detect abnormal behaviors of inmates such as fights or suicide attempts.
The director of the design, Professor Lee Baik-Chu of Kyonggi University, said the robots will send signals to human guards if they detect any problems.
"As we are about to finish the operating system, we are now working on some details so that they are not so foreign to the prisoners," he explained.
Robots everywhere
Jail
If the robots detect any strange behavior in the prisoners, they will warn the human guards.
In the month they will operate in test, the maintenance of the robots will cost about US $ 857,000, which will be subsidized by the South Korean government.
This is the latest in a series of state investments to develop its robotics industry.
And it is that the country aims to be a leader in robotics and companies intend to become the main exporters of that industry worldwide.
Therefore, the government claims to have spent between 2002 and 2010 more than US$649 million on research in this sector.
It aims to compete with other countries such as Japan, which are also exploring the potential of that industry.
In October, the ministry said Korea's robot market has registered 75% growth over the past two years and that sector is currently worth about $1.5 billion.
Among the success stories are a robotic surveillance system that a South Korean company sold to Algeria and the humanoid robot HUBO that another sent to six universities in the United States.
In addition, South Korean defense company DoDAAM is developing robotic towers for export that can be programmed to open fire automatically and some schools in the country are deploying assistant robots of English teachers to help children practice their pronunciation.
The Joongang Daily reported in August that a company called Showbo had begun large-scale production of a robot that helps customers buy and informs them of offers and other companies hope to start selling robots to care for the elderly.
And to stage South Koreans' passion for robots, the government is building a theme park dedicated to these machines.
Source: bbc.co.uk
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