South Korea announces 'Robot Land'

The South Korean governments announced yesterday plans to build the world's first robot theme amusement park, "Robot Land."

The announcement coincided with the Finance Ministry release of the 2009 budget which sets aside 4 billion won for supporting the design of public facilities in the Incheon and Masan parks. Robot Land is expected to cost 784.5 billion won ($562.3 million) with 680.5 billion won coming from private investors, 52 billion won from the South Korean government and another 52 billion won being provided by the local government.

Robot Land is to be the first of two parks in planning by the South Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

The second park - yet unnamed - is still deep in the development stages and no official plans have yet been formed. Officials cite the reason being that the projected construction site, Masan park, will need more time as the government reviews the potential environmental impact of the park as well as determining the details of administrative processes.

"Although there are numerous theme parks around the world, Korea would be the first to operate a robot-themed park," said an official at the Knowledge Economy Ministry.

With the country ranking fifth in the line of the world's robotics manufacturing nations, in terms of revenue, these parks are a large part of the South Korean government's plans to leverage their robotic manufacturing capabilities and better acquaint the populous with robotics.

"About 70 percent of the market is expected to be taken up by SMEs and venture companies, and the industry's growth is projected to give rise to business opportunities in a wide range of areas including robot and parts production, software development and product sales," said Kim Hong-seok, chief research engineer at the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology.

Construction on Robot Land will begin in 2010 and is expected to be completed by 2013, though some parts of the park will be open to the public some time in 2012.