Promotion of 8 International Robot Standards for Delivery, Care, and Guidance by 2023

KATS Hosts 'Non-Face-to-Face Economy Robot Technology and Standards International Forum'

On the last day of the Chuseok holiday, the 4th, returning travelers are passing in front of an AI thermal imaging camera robot at the Express Bus Terminal in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government announced plans to pursue the registration of eight international standards by 2023 in the field of contactless service robots, including mobile collaborative robots.

The National Institute of Technology and Standards under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is scheduled to hold the "Contactless Economy Robot Technology and Standards International Forum" at 3 p.m. on the 12th at the Millennium Hilton Hotel in Seoul, where it will announce these plans.

The forum will be attended by international standards experts (online) from five advanced countries in the robotics field? the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and China?along with 45 domestic experts from industry, academia, and research institutes.

The forum is a follow-up measure to the "Contactless Economy Standardization Strategy" announced by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 29th of last month. It aims to discuss the standardization of safety and performance for service robots used in industrial sites and general workplaces, such as delivery, care, and guidance robots.

Experts from the five countries participating online will introduce cases of service robot applications in their respective countries and share opinions on the importance of standards in the development and operation of service robots.

Osman Tokhi from the UK will introduce practical cases of robot standards application. He will explain that the ISO13482 standard, which defines safety requirements for service robots, is expected to apply to mobile assistant robots, physical support robots, and ride-on robots.

Alix Guillemet from France will present how SoftBank Robotics' interactive service robot "Pepper" educates children on infectious disease prevention guidelines.

Pepper provided real-time video updates on patients in hospitals to families unable to visit due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and remotely collected blood pressure data on behalf of medical staff.

Jie Yuan from UBtech, a Chinese service robot specialist company, will introduce quarantine and guidance robots deployed in urban areas and hospitals in Wuhan for epidemic prevention. He will emphasize the need to develop standards for robot management and control systems to expand robot utilization.

Domestically, LG Electronics and the Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement will present cases of service robot technology development and standardization that respond agilely to market demands in contactless situations.

LG Electronics will introduce examples of the Chloe Chef robot and serving robots operating in regular restaurants and announce plans to propose an international standard draft for safety evaluation of indoor delivery robots.

The Robot Industry Advancement Institute will share plans to build a standard certification infrastructure based on the international standard (ISO13482) and develop standards for safety evaluation of outdoor autonomous driving robots, which can accelerate the commercialization of outdoor driving robots.

The National Institute of Technology and Standards plans to propose eight international standards by 2023 in the field of contactless service robot implementation technologies, including mobile manipulators, wearable robots, and logistics robots, reflecting the forum's content.

Lee Seung-woo, head of the National Institute of Technology and Standards, said, "As the contactless economy accelerates due to COVID-19, movements by countries around the world to establish new standards are becoming active. Since robots are a core element in realizing the contactless economy, we will secure international standards in this field to enhance the global competitiveness of contactless services and technologies."