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Not only is Korea the only country where 72 percent of households have a high-speed Internet connection and 17 million people are joined by their membership in the Cyworld online community, it also has ambitions to make robots ¡°part of the household,¡± the New York Times reported on Sunday.
The daily said ¡°the world's most wired country¡± was in a hurry ¡°to turn what sounds like science fiction into everyday life." It was referring to Korean projects to develop ¡°intelligent¡± robots that, like in a space-age fantasy, assist people around the house, sing, dance and entertain children, and teach them English to boot. Robots that assist customers at the post office and help in crime-prevention could enter large-scale production next year.
The Times reported the Ministry of Information and Communication¡¯s ambitions to put one of these thinking robots in every household between 2015 and 2020. It quoted the manager of the ministry's intelligent service robot project Oh Sang-rok as going further: "My personal goal is to put a robot in every home by 2010," Oh said. But the official pointed out that Korea is for now behind the U.S., Europe, and Japan in the development of actual robotic technology. He vowed to propel the country into third place by 2013, focusing less on military and industrial robotics but on intelligent friendly helper robots instead.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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