Kludge
11-30-2011, 01:02 AM
"Robot wardens are about to join the ranks of South Korea's prison service.
A jail in the eastern city of Pohang plans to run a month-long trial with three of the automatons in March. The machines will monitor inmates for abnormal behaviour. Researchers say they will help reduce the workload for other guards. South Korea aims to be a world leaders in robotics. Business leaders believe the field has the potential to become a major export industry.
The three 5ft-high (1.5m) robots involved in the prison trial have been developed by the Asian Forum for Corrections, a South Korean group of researchers who specialise in criminality and prison policies. It said the robots move on four wheels and are equipped with cameras and other sensors that allow them to detect risky behaviour such as violence and suicide.
...
Success stories reported by the Korean media include Samsung Techwin's sale of a robotic surveillance system to Algeria and shipments of the humanoid Hubo robot to six universities in the US.
The South Korean defence company DoDAAM is also developing robotic gun turrets for export which can be programmed to open fire automatically.
Within the country English-speaking robotic teaching assistants are already being deployed in some schools to help children to practise their pronunciation.
The Joongang Daily newspaper reported in August (http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2940137) that a company called Showbo had begun mass producing a robot that bowed to shop customers and told them about promotions on offer.
Other firms say they hope to start selling robots to help care for the elderly before the end of the decade, and personal assistant robots further down the line.
The government is also building a Robot Land theme park (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/fast_track/9637666.stm) in the north-west city of Incheon to help highlight the country's success. Planners say they hope 2.8 million people will visit each year."
Full story @ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15893772
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15893772)Feel free to panic. We are the guinea pigs of a new era in automated technology. Private robot "defense" armies, ho! (oh, and automated gov't KoS turrets)
A jail in the eastern city of Pohang plans to run a month-long trial with three of the automatons in March. The machines will monitor inmates for abnormal behaviour. Researchers say they will help reduce the workload for other guards. South Korea aims to be a world leaders in robotics. Business leaders believe the field has the potential to become a major export industry.
The three 5ft-high (1.5m) robots involved in the prison trial have been developed by the Asian Forum for Corrections, a South Korean group of researchers who specialise in criminality and prison policies. It said the robots move on four wheels and are equipped with cameras and other sensors that allow them to detect risky behaviour such as violence and suicide.
...
Success stories reported by the Korean media include Samsung Techwin's sale of a robotic surveillance system to Algeria and shipments of the humanoid Hubo robot to six universities in the US.
The South Korean defence company DoDAAM is also developing robotic gun turrets for export which can be programmed to open fire automatically.
Within the country English-speaking robotic teaching assistants are already being deployed in some schools to help children to practise their pronunciation.
The Joongang Daily newspaper reported in August (http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2940137) that a company called Showbo had begun mass producing a robot that bowed to shop customers and told them about promotions on offer.
Other firms say they hope to start selling robots to help care for the elderly before the end of the decade, and personal assistant robots further down the line.
The government is also building a Robot Land theme park (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/fast_track/9637666.stm) in the north-west city of Incheon to help highlight the country's success. Planners say they hope 2.8 million people will visit each year."
Full story @ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15893772
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15893772)Feel free to panic. We are the guinea pigs of a new era in automated technology. Private robot "defense" armies, ho! (oh, and automated gov't KoS turrets)