By 2010, the Korean Construction and Transportation Ministry hopes to have an almost completely automated construction process in place for skyscaper projects that could cut labor costs by up to a third, project timelines by 15 percent, and reduce the number of construction-related injuries on these typically dangerous projects. This will boost overall productivity by 25 percent. The Ministry plans to inject $17 million (W16 billion) 2008-2011 to put these robotic builders to work.
Korea has developed the core technology for building high-rises without human workers and is going ahead with the process of applying the technology to nuts-and-bolts building projects. It will create a construction process almost totally automated, taking advantage of 12 high-tech patents including so-called "intelligent" cranes and the world's first bolt-tightening robots.
Industry insiders also expect this breakthrough to lower the number of accidents at job sites, address the labor shortage stemming from an aging society, and step up Korea's competitiveness in building super-sized structures.
