Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) of the Republic of Korea announced today the Convergence Robot Technology International Standards Strategy (“Strategy") for supporting the Korean robot industry’s global super gap securing efforts.

In line with Korea’s national standardization strategy for advanced industries announced this May, the above Strategy was established through the international robot standardization forum composed of related academia, industry, and research experts.

With the acceleration of digital transformation based on artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G, the scope of demand for robots is extending beyond industrial uses to include a wider range of areas such as logistics, housework, delivery, and care service. In view of this trend, the Strategy outlines the plan to push 21 Korean Standard (KS) legislations and 16 key international standard proposals for mainly wearable, rehabilitation, and home service robots by 2028.

Notably, the Strategy contains an international standard proposal on safety precautions for users of rehabilitation robots for the physically challenged, a joint research project in progress by the Korea Association of Robot Industry (KARI) and the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA).

Accordingly, KARI and RESNA signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the joint development, utilization, and sharing of relevant international standards on the margins of the Strategy announcement.