Armed Robots May Patrol Korean Border
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea on Thursday unveiled an armed guard robot that it says can be used to detect and suppress intruders along the heavily fortified border between South and North Korea.
The Commerce Ministry said the robot, which can fire a machine gun or rubber bullets and sound an alarm when it detects suspicious movement, could dramatically improve surveillance capability.
The robot also can distinguish people from moving objects such as a vehicles — from up to 1.2 miles away in the daytime and half that distance at night, the ministry said in a news release.
Commerce Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the robot opens a new era because it could replace soldiers in front-line units guarding against any possible aggression from the communist North.
