Dancing Robots

Today's robots are really much more like human beings. It has been demonstrated at the world's largest robot festival in South Korea. The Humanoid Dancing Crew which was around 30-40cm tall won a standing ovation for their performance. The visitors also had a chance to see humanoids playing football and losing robots clutching their heads in anger.

Hosted by the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy, Robot World 2010 was held at Kintex, Ilsan from October 28th to 31st, 2010. Robot World was a collaboration of the international Robot Industry Show 2010, International Robot Contest 2010 and Korea Robot Conference 2010.

Since its launch in 2006, Robot World has drawn around 120,000 visitors and 6000 participants every year for a demonstration of cutting-edge developments in robotics. A variety of robot centred fun was available during the expo this year. The Robot Industry Show was host to over 120 companies each displaying a number of their products. Some of the more noticeable displays were the mobile robot security, window cleaning robot and hybrid ticketing robots.

Robot Contest 2010 had over 8,000 contestants compete in 9 competitions such as college, high school competitions consisting of 22 events, such as the grand challenge and robot shooting. Over 200 awards including the presidential award and cash prizes in their millions were awarded.

There were dancing competitions, obstacle races and various tasks designed to test sensory and movement skills. The taekwondo robot bouts, blending South Korea's ancient martial art with space-age technology, lured the most spectators.

With over 1,000 researchers and robot experts from 30 countries participating, the Korea Robot Conference was the place to find out about the present and future of the robot industry.