KOREA’S ROBOT DENSITY NO. 1 IN THE WORLD

[Anchor Lead]

There's an indicator called 'robot density' that shows the number of robots per 10,000 workers in the country. South Korea reportedly has the highest robot density in the world. Robots are being deployed instead of people in various workplaces such as manufacturing to meet production quotas and alleviate labor shortages. We have the details.

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A worker sets up a robot and pushes a button. Then the robot starts welding. Until now, a skilled welder had to squat down to do the job since the space was narrow and the area to be welded was long. But now a robot has taken over. Since the robot is fitted with a collision prevention function, it can work in the same space with humans without safety barriers. Work efficiency has gone up by five fold.

[Soundbite] Choi Doo-jin(Samsung Heavy Industries) : "Quality and safety issues have risen with a massive import of foreign workers. We have a system where robots and inexperienced welders can work together."

This manufacturer makes cases for electric parts. It's hard for them to find foreign workers, much less domestic ones. The company has automated 75% of the process with robots. The need for manpower has decreased while production efficiency has increased. The saved cost was used to hire more people in research and development and implement a four-day workweek system.

[Soundbite] Kim Hyo-jin(Speefox) : "Work load was reduced from five days to four and demand for more technical tasks is rising."

As of 2021, there were roughly 3.5 million industrial robots operating in manufacturing plants worldwide. Korea's robot density, the number of robots per 10,000 workers, is seven times the world average at 1,000. Korea stands in first place for two years now, overwhelmingly ahead of China and Singapore. There are likely to be much more robots installed at industrial sites to make up for the falling working population.