Korea's Robot Density Highest in the World
Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Lee Sung-man remarked that the ratio of imported robot components amounted to 57 percent on average in 2018 in the fields of manufacturing, professional service and personal service robots.
“Although South Korea’s robot density, that is, the number of robots in operation per 10,000 employees is the highest in the world, the reliance on imported components fell little from 60 percent in 2016 to 57 percent in 2018,” he said.
Specifically, the reliance amounted to 61.1 percent in the case of manufacturing robot components. In this field, the use of domestically supplied components stood at 14.8 percent, 24.3 percent and 24.9 percent when it comes to drivers, software and sensors, respectively. In addition, the reliance was 56.3 percent and 53.5 percent in professional and personal service robots, respectively. On average, the use of domestically supplied drivers such as servomotors and decelerators, which account for the largest part of robot costs, stood at 29.6 percent.
South Korea’s robot component exports totaled 141.8 billion won in 2019, when its imports of the same items amounted to 215.1 billion won.