South Korea has the highest concentration of robots in the world
Robots are rapidly becoming a part of manufacturing, but the results of who's winning the robot game are in: South Korea has the highest concentration of industrial robots in the world.
According to the International Federation of Robotics, South Korea towers over the rest of the world with 531 multipurpose industrial robots for every 10,000 employees in the manufacturing industry.
Its beaten out countries like Singapore, Japan, Germany, and the US, countries that are no stranger to technological innovation.
And it has far surpassed the average robot density — or the ratio of industrial robots to employees — around the world, which stands at 69 industrial robots per 10,000 employees.
But its not only industrial robots that South Korea excels in.
Last year, engineers created a giant four metre-tall robot which would not look out of place in a Transformers movie.
A South Korean inventor also decided it was a good idea to create a drinking buddy robot.
CARD ID: 215226, CARD TYPE: Imgur
The South Korean government looks keen on maintaining its stronghold in robotics, adding that it would spend $450 million in the field over the next five years.
A huge chunk of this will go into financing corporate R&D centers to help develop robotic technology.
"The robot industry has emerged as a new technology frontier that will give a fresh boost to the manufacturing sector," Trade Minister Joo Hyung-hwan had said to news agency Yonhap News.
According to the International Data Corporation, the global robotics industry is set to be worth around $135 billion by 2019 — almost double of the $71 billion generated in 2015.
South Korea's definitely set to get a huge piece of that pie.
Topics Artificial Intelligence
Yvette is a Viral Content Reporter at Mashable Asia. She was previously reporting for BBC's Singapore bureau and Channel NewsAsia.
