Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon (C) and other officials check patrol robots deployed at a traditional market in the city Thursday. The capital city plans to test them through next March. Photo courtesy of the Seoul city government
The city government of Seoul announced Thursday that it was deploying patrol robots at traditional markets in an attempt to prevent fires.
AI-powered robots are scheduled for duty at four traditional markets in Korea from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. each day through March. Advertisement
Equipped with thermal imaging sensors, the 43-inch-tall robot has been trained to differentiate between dangerous fires and wood stoves via machine-learning.
The Seoul government is confident that the 187-pound robot’s skill will continue to improve with new data being fed through the machine-learning process.
The robot, programmed to call 911 at the moment of detection, will also send out warning signals to security officials who can check live the scene of the fire via their mobile phones.
In addition, the robots come equipped with eco-friendly chemicals that can be sprayed at the fire upon discovery.
“The traditional markets being especially vulnerable to fires, we decided it would be a good idea to do a pilot program there,” a Seoul city official told UPI News Korea.
“Once the test ends in spring, a decision will be made whether to expand their use to other places,” he said. Advertisement
In the past five years through 2022, there have been 140 fires just in Seoul’s traditional markets, causing $58 million in damages and 10 lost lives, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters.
There are around 350 traditional markets in Seoul alone, most of them offering a wide variety of goods including fruit, meat, fish, bread, and clothing at affordable prices.
With the country suffering from one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, South Korea has been very proactive in adopting robots to serve various purposes. Last month, for example, it began allowing certain delivery robots to roam the sidewalks alongside pedestrians.
As of last year, the country’s fertility rate was 0.78, which means that for every 100 women, only 78 babies are expected to be born over their lifetime. Unless things change drastically, South Korea is expected to continue losing population for the foreseeable future.
