Home Security Robots Set for Release in 2H

Amid heightened awareness of crime in the country, more IT products and systems are being designed to protect homes as the security industry shifts its focus from corporate clients to individual consumers.

Samsung Electronics and S1 Corp., Korea’s largest security provider and a Samsung Group affiliate, will begin selling Korea’s first home security robots from the second half of the year. The robot will have monitoring functions and an automated locking system.

S1’s visual security system will be applied to Samsung Electronics’ robot vacuum cleaner Tango, which is on sale now.

The robot records video clips at home and sends them to the PC of the home owner. The owner can watch the footage in real time by accessing the Internet via mobile phones or other computers.

A visual security system has been used to record images at company offices or stores via closed-circuit TVs and to send them to computers or mobile phones in real time. Demand for the same system at homes has surged, however.

KT Telecop, which launched its visual security service in 2007, has released a new service removing the central monitoring system to exclusively allow subscribers to watch recorded images. The company has cut the price of the service.

A large portion of ADT Caps’ customers are working mothers who rely on babysitters to watch their children.

achim@donga.com