The NYT reports on South Korean dreams of ubiquitous robots. “If all goes according to plan, robots will be in every South Korean household between 2015 and 2020.”

Korea is uniquely serious about robots, and has a track record of bringing ambitious technological plans to fruition. It vies with Japan as the most plausible place that the science fiction vision of helpful robots might be achieved.

Koreans may have a more practical plan than the android-obsessed Japanese:

While other countries have focused on developing military, industrial or humanoid robots, …. South Korea decided three years ago to develop service robots that, instead of operating independently, derive their intelligence from being part of a network.