Seoul City to Provide Free Rental of 'Artificial Intelligence Robots' to 300 Daycare Centers... Expansion Planned for 2022

Supporting Language and Emotional Development of Young Children Facing Challenges in Extracurricular Activities Due to COVID-19

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is set to pilot the introduction of ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) robots’ in childcare settings.

On the 21st, Seoul announced that starting in August, it will launch a pilot project to lend AI robots called ‘AlphaMini’ free of charge to daycare centers to assist the language and emotional development of young children, whose special activities have become difficult due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

AlphaMini is a small humanoid robot measuring 24.5 cm in height and weighing 0.7 kg. It is equipped with Naver’s AI platform, allowing access to all content searchable on Naver. It can perform human-like movements such as walking and sitting, engage in free conversation, and participate in activities like storytelling, rhythmic movement, singing children’s songs, playing “20 Questions,” and word chain games. Notably, it expresses emotions through changes in its pupils, enabling emotional interaction and communication with children. When speaking, it blinks its pupils and winks, and when in a good mood, its pupils even change into heart shapes.

Seoul plans to provide children with opportunities to experience AI robots, a core future technology, while offering new fun and interest to children who have become tired and stressed due to the suspension of external instructors’ special classes, forest experiences, and field trips caused by the prolonged COVID-19 situation.

Additionally, the AI robot is expected to help increase children’s concentration and assist childcare teachers by reading storybooks, thereby somewhat reducing their teaching burden.

Seoul will select 60 daycare centers each month on a first-come, first-served basis and support them on a monthly rental basis, planning to lend to a total of 300 daycare centers over five months (August to December). After the five-month pilot, satisfaction surveys and focus group interviews (FGI) will be conducted with participating daycare centers to thoroughly analyze and evaluate the project’s effectiveness before considering expansion in 2022.

Daycare centers wishing to use the AI robots can apply by email to the Seoul Childcare Support Center without any special qualifications. The rental is free of charge, and the rental period is one month. Applications are accepted during the third week of each month. Daycare centers wishing to rent AI robots in August should apply between July 22 and 28. Basic operation and management training will be provided upon rental, along with a user guide and precautions.

Kim Seon-soon, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Women and Family Policy Office, said, “Considering children who will live in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era, the use of AI in childcare settings is a natural trend of the times, and Seoul aims to take a leading role in this. Especially with the difficulties children face due to the suspension of external and special activities at daycare centers caused by COVID-19, this project is expected to provide new fun and interest to children and enhance the competitiveness of Seoul’s daycare centers.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.