The state-run Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) says it has developed the country’s first humanoid robot. KIST’s Centaur has four legs like a horse with a humanoid torso. With artificial intelligence and a stereo vision system for object recognition the 150kg, 1.6-meter tall Centaur can assemble things, lay blocks and carrying objects weighing up to 1 kg.
Robotics is a branch of artificial intelligence, said Lee Jong-won, chief of the KIST’s Human Robot Center. Robots, currently used in factories to perform high-precision jobs such as welding and riveting, will also be widely used in situations which are be dangerous for humans such as cleaning toxic waste in nuclear power plants, defusing bombs and operating at depth in the sea or ocean.
Despite the technological breakthroughs associated with KIST’s Centaur, Korea’s robotics technology is still in its early stages compared with forerunners of the industry such as Japan, the US and Italy. However Lee said Korea will catch up as quickly as it can and aims to develop a two-leg humanoid robot in three to four years. A robot intended to assist in surgical operations and take care of patients in hospitals, will also be developed by KIST scientists in five years, he said.
