For field deployment in 2020, South Korea's military will launch a project to develop exoskeletons that could be used at army camps, fire stations, and industrial sites, a defense agency said Monday.
The project requires more than 20 billion won (17 million US dollars) for four years to develop related technologies by the state-run Agency for Defense Development and LIG Nex1, a civilian defense contractor, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), a defense ministry agency.
Two prototypes of exoskeleton suits will be developed -- one to provide soldiers with increased leg strength and the other to increase the strength of upper and lower sides, it said, adding robotic technologies developed in the project would be shared by civilian and government bodies for use at industrial and disaster sites.
Exoskeleton suits are an area of growing research interest, as it provides immediate enhancements to wearers without having to disrupt their workflow.
In October, Seoul and Washington agreed to spend six million US dollars on developing robotic technologies for disaster response in a state project involving the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com