South Korea to Add Robots-on-Rails and AI Surveillance to DMZ Border
In this June 14, 2019, file photo, South Korean army soldiers patrol while hikers visit the DMZ Peace Trail in the demilitarized zone in Goseong, South Korea. Ahn Young-joon/AP
By
Aaron Boyd
The demilitarized zone between North and South Korea will be getting new surveillance technologies in the coming months, Korean news outlets report.
South Korea is preparing to increase its unmanned presence in the no man’s land that divides the Korean peninsula
The South Korean military plans to add “moving robots” as part of an “artificial intelligence-based surveillance system,” according to Korean news outlet Yonhap. An article posted Tuesday cites a Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration, or DAPA, contract worth $2.5 million to deploy the bots and AI surveillance system this year.
The robot system will run on rail tracks along the border with North Korea searching for movement. The machines will be able to spot and track moving objects using high-resolution cameras and sensors, the defense agency said in a release.
The AI system will tap into South Korea’s closed-circuit television network to analyze audio and video for potential incursions. “As the new system employs deep learning technologies, its detection capabilities can be improved constantly, according to DAPA,” Yonhap reports.
The rail-based robots will go into testing in December, Yonhap reports, and are expected to be deployed six months after. The AI system will be deployed as early as October.