Army Training Center Meals Now Made by Robots... Field Unit Implementation Also Under Review

Military Introduces Cooking Robots at Nonsan Training Center... Four Collaborative Robots Installed
Expansion Considered for Second Half of This Year... 900 Million KRW Support per Unit

A culinary soldier at the Nonsan Army Training Center in Chungnam is preparing military meals.
[Photo by Asia Economy DB]

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Junhyung] Trainees at the Army Training Center in Nonsan, Chungnam, have been eating military meals prepared by 'robots' since this month. The government is considering expanding the introduction of cooking robots to field units in the second half of this year based on meal satisfaction and other factors.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of National Defense announced on the 7th that Ministers Moon Seung-wook and Seo Wook visited the dining hall of the 28th Regiment at the Army Training Center, where cooking robots are being piloted, to inspect the operation status. Previously, the military installed cooking robots at the Army Training Center in November last year and completed stabilization work earlier this month. On that day, Ministers Moon and Seo demonstrated meal preparation using the cooking robots installed in the dining hall and personally tasted the food.

The cooking robots were introduced as part of standardizing robot systems applied to military manufacturing processes with harsh working environments, handling four types of cooking tasks considered the most difficult by cooks: frying, stir-frying, soup/stew, and rice cooking. In August last year, the two ministries held a Defense Industry Development Council meeting and announced the 'Application Plan of Robot Utilization Standard Process Model in the Defense Sector.' Specifically, four collaborative robots from Doosan Robotics were installed for the frying process. Once the cook places frying ingredients in a cage, the collaborative robots handle the rest of the tasks. A total of 19 Cartesian robots were installed: 2 for frying, 7 for stir-frying, and 10 for soup/stew. When the cook puts ingredients into the pot, the Cartesian robot installed above descends to stir the ingredients.

An articulated robot installed in the dining hall of the 28th Regiment at the Army Training Center.
[Photo by Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy]

The introduction of cooking robots is expected to accelerate the standardization of military meals. Since some cooking processes are replaced by robots, variations in taste caused by different cooks can be minimized. It also helps prevent safety accidents frequently occurring during high-temperature cooking. Respiratory diseases caused by vapor and musculoskeletal disorders from high-intensity repetitive labor can also be minimized. An official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said, "The Ministry of National Defense is also actively introducing robots to improve soldiers' treatment," adding, "The cooking robot project was strongly promoted to standardize military meals and is unrelated to reducing the number of cooks."

Depending on the results of the pilot project, the expansion of cooking robots in the second half of this year will also be considered. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is of the view that cooking robots can be introduced to field units before central units such as the Army Headquarters. The installation subsidy per unit is up to 900 million KRW. Plans to utilize robots throughout the entire meal preparation process are also underway.

Minister Moon said, "The pilot distribution project for cooking robots will be an important stepping stone for robotization in the defense sector," and added, "We will continue to cooperate with the Ministry of National Defense to promote more active use of robots in various defense fields in the future."

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