According to the South Korean news agency Yonhap, starting from March there will be robotic guards in a South Korea jail.
We already spoke about progress of the use of robots in Chinese manufacturing environments. These new prototypes will show up in a jail in the city of Pohang the next spring. Although their friendly look, they will be useful to monitor the inmates during the night, as declared by the leaders of the country’s prisons. South Korea is not new to this kind of use of robotic technology. Since 2010 they are testing robot towers that can sense heat and motion, along the North/South border.
According to the BBC, these three robotic guards will monitor detainees for abnormal behavior like prisoner violence and even attempts at suicide. Researchers say that this will help reduce human guards’ workload. The robots will help prisoners connect with officers, mostly during the night, via cameras mounted on their torsos.
The project will cost about $864,000.
