Under the auspices of the Ministry of Information & Communication, the Korea Association of Robotics supervises Robot World 2007 (www.robotworld.or.kr) to be held on October 18 to 21, 2007 at COEX, Seoul by teaming up with KITA and COEX.
One hundred ten companies prepare 530 booths to take part in the international robot industry exhibition, Robot World 2007. For the international robot contest, 3,000 people take part in 24 contest games. The international robot academic rally also attracts 3,000 people from 30 countries. With Robot World 2007 coming soon, Shin Kyungchul, CEO of Yujin Robots and chairman of the Korea Association of Robotics, sees the outlook of domestic robot industry positively, saying that participation companies in robotics have increased in large numbers recently and the government also strives to provoke a robotics boom through the Robot Land project.
Nevertheless, he pointed out that now is the important juncture for domestic robot makers. He said that robot makers which overcome this crucial moment will develop further, or they will disappear. He particularly worried that the robot industry is not right now grown bigger like society or the nation's expectation.
So because the robot market has not grown bigger, from now on is important for domestic robot makers, Shin said. He added that robot technology level also is not passing elementary technology level. In that regard, Shin insisted: "In order for Robot World 2007 to induce substantial foreign robot buyers, from Korea robot industry has to be rooted."
As a pivotal point to go to the world market, Shin said: "Our country holds a cutting-edge in robot industry, but international cooperation is necessary about groundwork technology as well as the element technology field of intelligent robots, where the gap with advanced countries is big." In the case of service robots which should create demand based on new business models, international collaboration for globalization and standardization is indispensable in securing international competitiveness, he notes.
As regards the One Household, One Robot Age, the Yujin Robots President forecasts: "In the light of the fact that robots will represent a generation after PCs as Bill Gates predicted, One Household, One Robot Age will come in a certain point of time." As regarding Korean service robot business circles' aggressive commercialization traits compared with Japan, he rated Korean related service robot business circles' new product launching effort as high whereas Japan is awfully conservative in launching new products.
He ordered to pay attention to robot's reverse function or robot's ethics charter as well so that sound robot culture can be rooted in the general public's psyche. According to Shin, it is said that the Organizing Committee of the Robot World 2007 is now very enthusiastic for the success of the upcoming exhibition and conference through special projects such as the global boom and face-to-face meetings.
Global boom refers to constructing a global network which unites the whole world by utilizing global TV channels like CNN, ESPN, and STAR TV. On top of that, the Organizing Committee also is operating a Buyer Marketing Center (BMC) which possesses the largest robot database, of approximately 100,000 companies.
From the dimension of the Korean Association of Robotics too he serves as chairman, the Association helps domestic robot business circles make inroads into overseas market besides supporting publicity activities and holding robot exhibitions and conferences like Robot World 2007 to provide them with an excellent opportunity to have business talks with foreign buyers, Shin concluded.
