South Korea’s leaders, it seems, love to think big. Most South Koreans, for instance, live in cramped apartments without basic appliances such as dishwashers or garbage disposals. Yet, their government said last year that it intends to have a robot in every home by 2020, part of a plan to become one of the world’s top robotics manufacturing hubs.

The latest frontier in the country’s quest for robotic supremacy? Its border with Kim Jong Il’s Hermit Kingdom. The state-run Agency for Defense Development is spending $35 million to develop three types of robots—one each for mine detection and removal, surveillance, and combat—which it hopes to begin deploying to the 155-mile-long demilitarized zone later this year.

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Copyright © James Card.