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The 1950s dream of friendly helper robots making the life of humans easier around the home seems to have come within sight at last.
An "Information Contents Robot" (ICR) with a voice and face recognition function that can perform various healthcare and entertainment services in the house will begin trial service in October, while a "Public Service Helper Robot" (PSHR) will be introduced to 20 postal offices, carrying out services like checking postal codes.
The Ministry of Information and Communication said Tuesday that a group of 10 domestic companies including the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) and Next Eye developed three prototypes of the ICR after a year of research.
The ministry said the first models would be produced by the end of June, to begin service for new tenants at show apartments linked to the country's broadband convergence network (BcN) plan for total connectivity in October.
The cost of the robots varies from over W100,000 to several million. The ministry plans to supply 1 million of them to apartment buildings by 2007.
The ICR measures 70 cm and costs between W2 million and W3 million. It can perform advanced functions like healthcare for diabetics and reading storybooks to children. Simpler robots costing W1-2 million will connect households with stores to exchange product information and order new products. Low-budget robots will offer entertainment functions like games and MP3 players and provide security.
The ministry's PSHR will help customers in post offices check post codes.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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