The Korea Herald : The Nation’s No.1 English Newspaper

Fledgling robot industry aims to fly high

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Will the day really come when ‘intelligent’ robots take over mundane household chores and give people more leisure time?

Dreams come true?

There is no definition yet of the intelligent service robot. But according to the preliminary definition by the International Federation of Robotics, an industry group concerned with commercial robots, it is ‘a robot which operates semi or fully autonomously to perform services useful to the well-being of humans and equipment, excluding manufacturing operations.’

Lim Young-mo, a senior researcher at the private Samsung Economic Research Institute said, “While most industrial robots performed repeated tasks at factories, service robots have intelligence and move on their own to help people with household chores and office work. Service robots are expected to create a mass market as large as the markets for personal computers or automobiles.”

While no robots like Andrew are available to consumers yet, experts predict that home robots will become popular in coming years, taking care of a variety of household chores.

Japan’s Mitsubishi Research Institute projected that household robots would begin to penetrate the market in earnest in 2010 and that each household would own at least one robot by 2020.

But different agencies have different forecasts about how big the service robot market will grow in the future.

According to the International Federation of Robotics the global market for intelligent service robots is expected to grow to $2.2 billion in 2005 from $400 million this year. By 2010, the market is forecast to reach $24.3 billion worldwide, according to the organization.

The Japan Machinery Federation predicts the market will expand to $20 billion in 2010, while Korea’s Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy estimates it at $70 billion.

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