The robots are coming.

[Korea] The Ministry of Information and Communication said Wednesday it will launch robotic home helpers at the very reasonable price of around W1 million (US$1,000) in a test market from October next year. Information Minister Chin Dae-je said, “I expect the ‘one household, one robot’ era will come in 2020.” The low-priced robot project will create W1.5 trillion (US$1.5 billion) in added value, Chin added.

The ministry’s network robots come in three types ? the relatively smart education robot Jupiter, which reads English fairy tales to children using voice recognition software, the simpler remote-controlled cleaning robot Netoro, and the e-mail-literate telecommunication robot Roboid. Looking remarkably similar to R2D2 in “Star Wars”, they will be made by robotics firms Yujin Robotics, Hanool Robotics and I.O. Tech.

Digital Chosunilbo (English Edition) :: Robotic Helpers to Fill Homes from Next Year

Pic here (the little one's cute!):
The Korea Times : Robots at Service for $1,000 Per Pop