HUBO, the first humanoid robot developed by a Korean research team, on display during a demonstration at a KAIST research lab in Daejeon on Sunday. HUBO is expected to have capabilities equal to that of Japan's ASIMO, the world's most advanced robot, within the year. Nameless Humanoid Christened at Last Friendly Helper Robots for Everyman from October

HUBO, which waits its official unveiling on Jan. 6 following a year of work by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), is a robot model representing a continuation of the KHR-1 and KHR-2 models developed since 2002. The birth of HUBO is viewed as a brilliant achievement demonstrating that Korean robot technology has approached world standards.

50-year-old KAIST mechanical engineering professor Oh Jun-ho, who developed HUBO, said his latest creation's capabilities were expanded and greatly stabilized. He said the robot has voice recognition and synthesis faculties, as well as perfect vision in which its two eyes move independently of one another.

HUBO's birth, coming less than a year after the start of development, has startled robotic powerhouses like Japan.

This month, Honda released photos of its humanoid robot ASIMO running at a speed of 3km per hour and golf putting, ostentatiously displaying its leading-edge robotics technology. The birth of HUBO, however, demonstrated that Korean robotic technology is developing so rapidly that it may soon equal or exceed Japan's.

(Yeo Shi-dong, sdyeo@chosun.com )