South Korea is embracing robotics with the same intensity that made it a force in high-speed broadband, widescreen televisions, and smartphones. Robot Land, a state-subsidized 758 billion won ($735 million) theme park featuring futuristic rides as well as research and development labs, is set to open in 2016. The government is also investing 1.1 trillion won to support the nation’s robotics industry.
That industry has doubled in size since 2009, with revenue reaching 2.1 trillion won in 2012, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The government seeks to boost that to 7 trillion won by 2018 with 600 domestic robot companies employing 34,000 workers. South Korea’s expertise in screen technology, semiconductors, sensors, and auto manufacturing gives it an edge, says Lee Jeong Yeob, a senior research engineer at Hyundai Rotem, a defense company that’s part of Hyundai Motor Group (005380:KS). “We have the fundamental technologies, which we should use to commercialize robots.”
Some public schools in Gyeonggi province are equipped with an Engkey, an egg-shaped machine with a tablet for a head that streams video lessons from off-site English-language instructors. The Hanwha Eagles professional baseball team has installed bots at its stadium that hold up signs displaying messages from fans who want to root for their team remotely. A Samsung Group (005930:KS) subsidiary has developed a machine gun-toting and grenade-launching robot sentry called the SGR-A1 that detects intruders using cameras, and heat and motion sensors. The government has tested it at the demilitarized zone along the border with North Korea.