Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Robots to Guard Korea Prison

A prison in South Korea will soon have robots as guards. The robo-guards will be on night duty at a prison in the city of Pohang from March. Officials say this is part of a test to see if the robots can do the same job as humans. The guards have sensors on them to spot any strange behaviour among the prisoners. Prison leaders hope the robots will help human guards focus more on helping inmates instead of watching them. The robot warders have so far cost one billion won ($850,000) to develop. Prisons around the world are waiting to see if the robo-guards are a success.

The prison guard robots will be 150 centimeters high, and weigh 70 kilograms. They have four wheels and several cameras to monitor movement around them. They also have special equipment to communicate with human guards in the control centre. Scientists are now working on making them look friendlier. They are yellow and white and have smiling faces. South Korea hopes to be a world leader in robotics. It has already designed robots to teach English in schools and companies are working on robots for the home.

breakingnewsenglish.com

No comments:

Post a Comment