Exhibition & Conference / iRIS 2006 Largest robot exhibition in the world Korea is poised to take off as the highest robot exhibition host country in the world through the International Robot Industry Show 2006 (iRIS 2006, www.robotworld.or.kr) which will be held from Oct. 18 through Oct. 22, 2006. ROBOTWORLD 2006's goal this year is to nurture itself as a worldwide robot exhibition both nominally and virtually by jumping over the International Robot Exhibition Japan which is held every two years. In terms of its scale too, iRIS 2006 will be hosted for the first time this year, but it contains 400 booths plus 110 participating companies. Accordingly, the Secretariat forecasts that iRIS 2006 will be by no means inferior to International Robot Exhibition Japan as its visitor number alone is predicted to pass over 60,000 people. iRIS2006's exhibition content consists of seven sectors . a robot pavilion for service, robot pavilion for manufacturing, robot component as well as software pavilion, network robot pavilion, overseas corporation pavilion, growth engine pavilion, and a future pavilion. Alongside this the exhibition will operate the robot experience hall, demonstration hall, and a business plaza to support business talks with buyers from home and abroad. Poised to take off as the highest robot host country The US-based Microsoft (MS) which proclaimed the company's business inroads into robot industry with a blitz, is being watched in that the company plans to announce robot business strategy and robot-related investment schemes in the Korean market through this forthcoming ROBOWORLD 2006 international robot conference. It is said that Craig Mundie, MS CRSO, will announce MS's strategies as a keynote speaker in its KRC which will be held in the forthcoming Oct. 19 to 22, 2006, according to the ROBOWORLD Secretariat. After establishing robotics group anew to develop software platform for robot on past June this year, MS has announced that the company would nurture robot as a next-generation key project such as developing MS robotics studio. Experts expect that through this forthcoming ROBOWORLD conference and exhibition, MS' concrete business direction will be revealed since the company announced its penetration into robot business last June this year. The Secretariat side also holds an event to herald the opening of a man-made man robot era. Alongside of this, ROBOWORLD 2006 is slated to be held by dividing into iRIS 2006, the exhibition; the International Robot Contest, a competition rally; and Robot Conference, an academic rally. Twenty-six kinds of robots will be demonstrated like fire service robots, guard robots, cleaning robots, entertainment robots, guidance robots, humaroid robots, and manufacturing robots. ROBOWORLD 2006 debut holds success or failure First of all, iRIS 2006 exhibition will prepare 7 display pavilions such as a robot pavilion for service, robot pavilion or manufacturing, robot component, software pavilion, and oversea company pavilion plus robot experience hall. Second, Robot Contest in which 1,500 people from a total of 856 teams will attend, unfolds 5 rallies and 19 events such as a robot soccer rally, robopiad and robofest besides establishing the Grand Challenge anew. This Robot Conference is propelled in concert with International Automation Control Academic Conference, the largest academic conference in Northeast Asia. The conference is screened and those involve decide to invite lecturers. There is also a Korea-Japan service robot workshop in which global distinguished scholars will attend including high-ranking officials from the U.S. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Business opportunities also will be prepared such as business talks between robot manufacturers, purchasers and investors besides participating company's publicity. In conjunction with this, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) officials involved in it said: "By integrating robot-associated exhibition, competition rally, and academic conferences held sporadically, such business talks will serve as a ground for substantial business." These officials added that the Ministry plans to link this ROBOWORLD 2006 as an opportunity for market creation such as business talks 100 cases, explaining that during the course of this exhibition period, a total of 60,000 visitors will appreciate robot products including the general public 55,000 people, domestic buyer 4,800 people, and oversea buyer 200 people. IRC 2006, another highlight of ROBOWORLD 2006 Another highlight of ROBOWORLD 2006 is the International Robot Contest (IRC 2006) which contends for supremacy of Korean robots. As the first competition rally which integrated robot competition challenges held sporadically in the meanwhile, IRC 2006, the largest scale both in terms of scale and a total of prize money, is being keenly watched on whether it could spring into an international level's synthetic competition challenge. IRC 2006 will be held each day during the contest period in 90 booths (834m2), first floor at COEX and 1,600 people from 900 teams contend for the supremacy plus 20,000 visitors. In fact, domestic robot-related exhibitions or competition challenges with robots as its theme have been held several tens times a year in Korea. However, since the majority of such robot-related exhibitions has been mostly a spectacle-oriented small scale in the meantime, it was actually difficult to be linked to actual business. In that regard, its success or failure on whether ROBOWORLD 2006's debut stage will succeed just as one though, is being keenly watched. ROBOWORLD 2006 officials observe that they believe it is not a long way off for Korea to catch up with Japan in the field of robotics. Accordingly, continuous interest and investment are demanded from the government and the nation and can only bring mutual benefit to everyone when the government, large companies, and smaller companies exchange business information each other and form mutual assistance system. According to a recent survey by the MIC, intelligent-model robots were surveyed to be the highest preference product at 17.5% when the Ministry asked 2,000 Internet users which IT839 items people would like to use most. Following an intelligent-model robot was WiBro at 14.6%, DMB/DTV at 10.6%, and ubiquitous home (u-home) services at 8.9%. Since Korean's interest in robot field is that high, success or failure of this forthcoming ROBOWORLD 2006 is becoming an object of keen interest at home and abroad.