Changwon: The Navy has successfully conducted its inaugural combat experiment with a humanoid robot acting as a helmsman, aiming to integrate robotic technology to address the decreasing number of military personnel, as per the announcement made by the armed service on Friday.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the experiment took place at a training command facility in Changwon, approximately 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Thursday. It featured a robot developed by a research team at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. This marked the first instance of a humanoid robot assuming the bridge helm duty, replacing a human crew member.

During the exercise, the robot, named "Pibot," adeptly followed steering commands in various simulated scenarios. These included navigating through narrow waters, managing inclement weather conditions, and operating during nighttime. The Navy intends to utilize the findings from this experiment to identify tasks suitable for robotic execution and thus alleviate the workload of sailors.

This initiative forms part of the Navy's strategy to create a maritime manned-unmanned combat teaming system and establish a technologically advanced "smart military." The development of the robot commenced in 2022, as part of a project spearheaded by the Agency for Defense Development. The state arms procurement agency has invested approximately 5.7 billion won (US$3.8 million) into this endeavor.