[Courtesy of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy]
A company of robots will roam through airports, stadiums and other Winter Olympic venues in February to provide entertainment and guide to foreign athletes and visitors.
The winter event, which will begin on February 9, is expected to see 85 robots such as HUBO, a humanoid robot which would be the world's first to bear the torch, and service robots providing conveniences and entertainment to athletes and visitors, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
Altogether, 11 types of robots will be utilized, the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. Service robots would clean the floors of the game grounds and deliver canned drinks while other robots project live game footages onto walls.
A special painter robot will be run during the Olympics season to draw artistic murals on the walls of stadiums and buildings, a ministry official told Aju News.
The trade ministry said it would hold a ski robot challenge in February to boost public attention and promote South Korea's robot technology. Robots from eight amateur teams will compete in a miniaturized downhill slalom ski course where robots are required to ski through pole gates just like pro-skiers.
Other than robots, the Pyeongchang event will be a gala show of South Korea's technology as companies such as KT and SKT have set up fifth-generation mobile networks for the first time in the world. IoT connected devices, autonomous driving buses, delivery drones and UHD broadcasting will be shown, using the super-fast mobile networks.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
