It looks like South Korea is really keen on replacing the country’s workers with robotic counterparts. Earlier this year it was reported that cinema ticket sales would be handled by some robots in the country, and now it looks like robots will be taking over the jobs of prison guards in the future. Some new robots that have been developed in cooperation with the country’s justice ministry will be introduced to the prison in Pohang, southeast of Seoul in March next year. If the trial goes well, we’ll see more robots introduced in the future.
Over a billion won ($850,000) was spent on development of the robotic prison guards which are supposed to enable human counterparts to focus more on rehabilitation work with offenders. The robots which will be used mainly at night will patrol the prison, looking for suspicious behavior among prisoners. Sensors on the robot can be used to study conditions in the cells and report back to the officer in charge. Now let’s hope the robots don’t fall in league with smart hacker criminals and help them facilitate a prison break.
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