KT showcased the Kibot 2, a smart robot focusing on educational services, at Robot World 2012, a world-class robot fair held from Oct. 25-28 at KINTEX, north of Seoul.

Robot World 2012 attracted about 200 robot makers and research institute exhibitors from 10 countries, which displayed state-of-the-art exhibits, including industrial robots, individual service robots, and robot software. The fair was organized and hosted by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems, the Korea Association of Robot Industry (KARI), and the Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement. 

KT’s robot pavilion was divided into three concepts. The Robot History Hall featured seven kinds of robots, including life service, education/entertainment, and software robots that have made their debut so far. Spectators saw Kibot 2’s content and robotics functions demonstrated and participated in a remote-controlled racing event at the Robot Experience Hall. The Robot Open Eco Zone provided an opportunity for spectators to experience the Robot Eco System, a publicly opened robot application development environment using applied programming interface (API) for controlling robot terminal and software functions.

Suh Yoo-ryul, president in charge of KT’s Domestic Customer Division and concurrently KARI chairman, said, “Robot World 2012 is a proud place for reconfirming Korea’s prominent robot technology, now comparable to that of advanced countries, and KT expects Korea to rise to a global robot powerhouse by collaborating with large-sized companies, SMEs, and research circles.”

Park Hye-jung, chief of the Market-ing Headquarters at KT, said KT is one of the large companies making continued investments in the development of robot technologies, and now that KT’s long-lasting investments have led to the popularization of the Kibot, KT plans to produce diverse household robots that customers will find familiar and friendly. 

The Kibot 2 is a smart robot focusing on educational services in which toddlers and children from ages three to 13 can learn while playing games. Users can watch diverse content via the 7-inch wide screen while the built-in beam projector allows all family members to do so on an up to 60-inch screen. 

The Kibot 2 also has such diverse functions as video calling, voice recognition, home monitoring, self-navigation, and radio frequency identification (RFID) card recognition, offering innovative educational services and safety that parents and their children have never before experienced. 

The Kibot 1, which made its debut in 2011, received rave reviews, winning the 2011 Korea Robot Presidential Award. The Kibot 2 has already earned fame anew by being included among the finalists of the 17th Annual Global Mobile Awards for Best Mobile Innovation for Education category, beating diverse educational gadgets from around the world.  

ROBOT BASED LEARNING CERTIFICATION 

The Kibot 2 has recently earned a Robot-based learning certification from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST). 

KT produced the Kibot 2 with the initial view of exploring the global market. Conventional robots are designed for industrial use, but KT Corp. has predicted that household robots with intelligence and emotions such as the Kibot 2 would create a sensation. 

KT began to discuss ways of collaborating in new businesses with Etisalat, one of the biggest telecom providers in the Middle East, and the parent company Mobily, last September. Etisalat and Mobily management visited KT’s headquarters and both sides began their full-fledged cooperative ties.