Andong, South Korea — Gyeongsangbuk-do is stepping up its childcare innovation by distributing 127 AI-powered care robots across 12 facilities in 10 municipal districts, launching an on-site pilot program to modernize local care services.

The provincial government announced the initiative following an expert seminar held on November 4 at the Stanford Hotel Andong, titled the "AI-Based Smart Care Activation Conference." The event brought together roughly 60 stakeholders, including officials from the provincial government, the Community Chest of Korea (Gyeongbuk branch), the Gyeongbuk Institute for Research & Industry Standardization (GIRIS), the Korea Institute of Robot and Convergence (KIRO), local government officials, and representatives from daycare centers and community childcare centers.

Addressing Labor Shortages Through Technology

Faced with a shrinking childcare workforce and surging demand for social services, Gyeongsangbuk-do has turned to artificial intelligence and robotics. The primary goal is to alleviate the heavy administrative and physical workloads placed on childcare providers while ensuring children receive a secure, high-quality developmental environment.

The current pilot phase was made possible through a 1-billion-won fund raised by the Community Chest of Korea. A total of 9 different types of AI robots have been dispatched to 12 social welfare-affiliated daycare centers and "All-Together" care centers (dahamkke dolbom center) across 10 regions.

Multi-Functional Support for Children and Facilities

The deployed robots perform a wide array of duties tailored to safety, education, and health monitoring:

Education & Play: Assisting with reading sessions, coding lessons, and emotional engagement activities.
Safety & Security: Detecting hazardous behaviors, spotting potential fire hazards, and conducting automated facility patrols.
Environment & Health: Managing indoor air quality and measuring biometric signals to monitor children's basic health conditions.

Highlights from the Conference

During the conference, Kim Ki-jung, a director at the Gyeongbuk Technopark, presented the interim results and operational status of the pilot project. Following that, Kim Min-gyu, a division head at the Korea Institute of Robot and Convergence, delivered a keynote on "AI-Era Childcare and Robotics," outlining future shifts in care environments and the expanding role of advanced technology.

Facility operators from local daycare and childcare centers shared hands-on case studies. A subsequent panel discussion focused on identifying technologies that genuinely ease staff burdens, exploring effective ways to integrate AI into child development, and establishing robust training and technical support networks for workers.

A Human-Centric Vision for Smart Care

"The core of smart care is not about how many advanced technologies we introduce, but how effectively we use practical technology to elevate the quality of care," said Lee Sang-soo, Director General of Local Government Strategy at Gyeongsangbuk-do.

"We will actively incorporate feedback from the field to build a sustainable Gyeongbuk-style smart care ecosystem—one where childcare workers can focus more closely on the children, kids receive safe and warm attention, and parents can drop off their children with absolute peace of mind."

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