Korean/NZ venture developing elder care robot technology
In preparation for the reality of an ageing society, Korea and New Zealand have joined in developing elderly care robot technology.
Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute of Korea (ETRI), have opened a joint research centre at the University of Auckland, for the development and commercial use of elderly care robotics.
The research centre starts with the designing of helper robots for the aged, aiming to develop the core technologies and commercialise network based aged care robots by 2011.
To this end, ETRI will provide its expertise in a network service robot to the University of Auckland, for the joint development project.
Besides ETRI and the University of Auckland, 12 companies (eight from New Zealand, two from the US and the two from Korea) will join the project, and two nursing homes in New Zealand will be used to test developments.
