Korean sources have said that Samsung is to supply its SGR-A1 stationary weapons robot to the South Korean military for the purpose of keeping an eye on the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which separates North and South Korea, technically still at war since 1950.

The SGR-A1 is a stationary platform, which solves the traditional problem of communicating with and powering defense robot systems, which are becoming more popular with militaries in countries such as the US and Israel. The aim of the robot is to keep a watch on a particular stretch of the DMZ, freeing up South Korean conscripts for other more productive duties and training.

The robot will not feature a speaker system with which to warn intruders, but it will be capable of sporting a Daewoo K3 Light Machine Gun. The K3 is a copy of the FN Minimi, known as the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) in the United States military, in service with nearly 30 nations worldwide.

The robot is capable of detecting movement up to 500 meters away with a color camera, and can store up to 60 days of video for later review as well as allowing operators to view images in real-time.

While the SGR-A1 is not likely to hold back the North Korean Army should it choose to invade South Korea, the robot will act as an early warning system and point out any movement it detects to human operators behind the front line. Amusingly for a robot which sports a light machine gun Samsung points out that the SGR-A1 is fitted with an anti-theft alarm as standard.

Spectrum Online