On May 14, HUBO made a surprise appearance as a co-anchor for the Taejon Broadcasting Corporation (TJB) News 8 broadcast, which broadcasts to Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungcheong Province. HUBO made this appearance, which lasted around five minutes, for the 25th anniversary of TJB, and  introduced news topics related to the research and achievements of robotics. The robot that made the appearance is the HUBO 2 model, which was developed by Professor Jun-ho Oh’s research team from the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 2009, and is the successor to the humanoid robot announced in 2004. 

HUBO presented a news segment about robotics for TBJ News 8

In the broadcast, HUBO introduced two news reports related to the robotics research and development field, as well as the achievements of barista robots, serving robots, surgical robots, and other commercial robots amidst the reduction of face-to-face contact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Media Director of TJB explained that after deciding to report on the increasing use of robots, the network followed up on an idea to use a robot to do so. He added that while such an attempt was unprecedented in Korean broadcasting history, the audience found it entertaining to watch.  

During the news broadcast, HUBO demonstrated natural gestures as an anchor, such as greeting the news presenter and pointing at relevant information on the screen. To achieve this, a real-time motion capture technology was implemented for HUBO to be remotely controlled by a researcher behind the camera.

Professor Oh stated that in his lab, this robot is also called the “avatar HUBO”. However, he noted that currently, HUBO can only convey movement from the user/controller, while in order to be a real avatar, both movements and feelings should be conveyed to and from the user. He further explained that this technology would be a stepping stone for the avatar technology. 

As the first humanoid robot developed in Korea in 2004, HUBO has also made a career outside of the lab environment in other events. In 2015, HUBO competed in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), beating robots from NASA and MIT to take first place and win two million USD. In December 2017, HUBO made an appearance as an Olympic torch bearer for the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Professor Oh stated that with the COVID-19 outbreak and decreasing face-to-face contact, there has been an increase in the demand for remote and unmanned technology, as well as the acceleration of automation due to the rising need for domestic production. Consequently, the demand for robots is increasing more quickly than ever, and research in robotics is also gaining more attention.

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