Deployment of 1 Million Robots by 2030
The government has recently come up with a new plan for the promotion of the robot industry, aiming to invest over 3 trillion won (US$2.24 billion) in the public and private sectors by 2030 to deploy one million robots across various industrial and societal sectors.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE) announced that it held a Robot Industry Policy Review Committee meeting and finalized the “Fourth Intelligent Robot Basic Plan From 2024 to 2028” on Jan. 16.
In accordance with the Promotion of Development and Deployment of Intelligent Robots Act, the MOTIE establishes the Intelligent Robot Basic Plan every five years to ensure the continuous advancement of the robot industry. The basic plan outlines the development direction for the robot industry, ranging from manufacturing to agriculture, logistics, services, defense, social safety, healthcare, and caregiving. It includes the goal to deploy one million robots across all industrial and societal sectors by 2030.
The plan also includes objectives such as increasing the domestic production rate of key robot components to 80 percent by 2030, swiftly improving 51 regulations necessary for the promotion of advanced robot deployment, and nurturing over 15,000 personnel in the robot industry workforce by 2030.
In addition, there will be efforts to establish robot-friendly infrastructure for coexistence with robots. To ensure the proper development and utilization of robots, ethical guidelines for robots will be established. Approximately 200 billion won will be invested to verify the stability, reliability, and other aspects of robots in the development stage, leading to rapid commercialization. The investment involves the creation of a National Robot Test Field.
The MOTIE had previously unveiled the direction for the development of the robot industry, as confirmed on this day, through the Vision and Strategy for Advanced Robot Industry announced in December of last year. An official from the ministry stated, “To achieve the realization of the K-Robot Economy, which enables K-robots to transform both our industry and daily life while driving economic innovation, we plan to actively pursue public-private cooperation.”