SK Telecom, in partnerships with local robot manufacturers, has already inked export deals with China, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates and Brazil to provide educational robots. (image: SK Telecom)
SEJONG, Oct. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. will work with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to provide educational robots to Costa Rica, the government said Thursday.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said under the US$2.4 million deal reached in Washington, SK Telecom will provide 1,500 robots to the Costa Rican education ministry in the next three years, which can be used by some 600 teachers and 6,000 students.
SK Telecom and the ministry will foot $750,000 of the total, with the IDB to provide $1.5 million and Costa Rica to come up with $150,000, which will be used to train teachers on how to use the Albert robots built by local robotics company Robomation.
“The robots will run advanced math software that can help students become familiar with numbers, calculations, logic and patterns,” the ministry said. “The use of robots can generate interest in kids and help improve math skills of Costa Rican students.”
The ministry said the latest pilot with the IDB is important because it could help local companies make further inroads into overseas markets.
SK Telecom, in partnerships with local robot manufacturers, has already inked export deals with China, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates and Brazil to provide educational robots. It is also moving forward with education projects using robots with Malaysia and France.
“Industry analysts are predicting rapid growth in the global educational robot sector, so the latest arrangement with the IDB can act as a stepping stone for further expansion,” the ministry said.
Asia’s fourth-largest economy already has a large industrial robot sector, with local companies diversifying into service robots that have good growth potential.
As of 2014, the global market for educational and entertainment robots stood at $960 million, with estimates predicting the market to grow to $7.6 billion in the 2015-2018 period.’
(Yonhap)
