200 'Digital Education Robots' Distributed to Elderly Welfare Facilities in 5 Seoul Districts

Seoul Digital Foundation Provides One-on-One Customized Smartphone Education for Middle-Aged and Elderly

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] One-on-one customized educational robots that teach digital device usage to the elderly will be distributed in Seoul.

The Seoul Digital Foundation announced on the 7th that the "Digital Gap Reduction Educational Robot Distribution Project" was finally selected in the "2020 Robot Utilization Socially Vulnerable Benefit Support Contest" hosted by the Korea Robot Industry Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

This project was proposed by a consortium led by the Seoul Digital Foundation, including Toruk Co., Ltd., Inno Contents Network Co., Ltd., and the Seoul districts of Gangnam-gu, Gangdong-gu, Gwanak-gu, Yangcheon-gu, and Jungnang-gu.

With a total project budget of 1 billion KRW, including 500 million KRW from the national government, 200 million KRW from the city, and 300 million KRW from the autonomous districts, the plan is to distribute 200 educational robots to 16 elderly welfare facilities in Seoul.

The foundation will begin full-scale robot distribution in August and operate digital gap reduction education courses for about 4,000 elderly people. The education will be conducted using robots linked with educational applications, and this year will provide content such as smartphone device usage and how to use KakaoTalk.

The educational robot "LIKU" to be distributed to the autonomous districts is equipped with software for mobile messenger usage education. The robot not only provides detailed guidance on how to use messengers but also monitors practice results in real time to encourage repeated practice of parts that are not well mastered. It is equipped with voice recognition and response functions, enabling interactive communication learning where users can ask questions and receive answers.

Lee Won-mok, Acting Chairman of the Seoul Digital Foundation, said, "Due to the recent impact of COVID-19, non-face-to-face services using digital devices have become more active, deepening the digital exclusion of the elderly. We hope that the customized educational robots will help reduce the information gap between generations and alleviate the inconveniences of the elderly."