Healthcare Robots
The South Korean government announced on November 15 that it would deploy robots at hospitals next year for rehabilitation assistance and transport purposes.
This plan is a follow-up of the October 11 meeting for the development of the robotics industry presided over by Minister of Trade, Industry & Energy Joo Hyeong-hwan. At that time, the government announced that it would invest 500 billion won in the industry for five years to come so that 80 projects can be launched by 2020 in the four fields of medical and rehabilitation service, driverless transport, social service and social safety and security.
In this context, 10 to 15 transport robots for use in hospitals are put into operation next year along with five to 10 rehab assistant robots at the National Rehabilitation Center, veterans hospitals, etc. In 2018, five to 10 social AI robots are put into operation at post offices along with three to five surgical robots at national hospitals and those for audience guide, transport and security at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
In the meantime, the government sets up a humanoid robot research center at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in December this year. A total of 15 billion won is invested in it until 2020 for the development of high-speed and high-performance humanoid robot platforms and techniques and components for walking and operational improvement.