Seoul To Become A Robot-Friendly City

The South Korean capital aims to expand robotic services across various sectors

The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) has set out its plans to become a “robot-friendly” city. Announcing the Seoul Comprehensive Robotics Industry Development Plan, SMG said it will prioritise robotics technology as a strategic industry for the city’s future.

SMG plans to invest â‚©202.9bn over four years to develop a robot-friendly environment and lead the robot service industry. It aims to expand robotic services across sectors, anticipating the rapid transition towards a super-ageing society and positioning Seoul as a global leader in the field of robotics.

The plan spans until 2026 and comprises 15 policies in three key areas:

• Establishing a robotics-investment fund for technology development, field testing, support for commercialisation and mass production to systematise the growth of the robot industry
• Introducing robot services in care facilities, including healthcare robots for long-term care facilities and storytelling/childcare robots for daycare centres, and opening educational facilities, such as the AI & Robotics Science Museum, to familiarise people with these innovative ideas
• Create the Suseo Robotics Cluster, a startup and business venture hub dedicated to robotics technology and supporting prototype mass production, safety design, and certification of robotics products.

Other initiatives will focus on fostering talent development in the robotics industry and introducing smart robot zones across the city. As well as the tech centre, it will also establish a robotics theme park.

The city stated that robots are a new growth engine for its future industries and an effective solution for the social challenges it faces at present. With the new plan in place, Seoul aims to support the growth of robotics industry and aims to increase public familiarity with robots by expanding the utilisation of robot services across various domains.