- High-speed robot can arrive on site within 5 minutes -

UIWANG, South Korea – MARCH 7 – A true era of Deep Underground Railways will begin when the GTX-A line connecting Suseo and Dongtan opens March 30th as scheduled. The deep underground railway usually runs in tunnels deeper than 40 meters. Any underground accident such as a fire may result in large-scale human casualties, which makes it essential to prepare for emergencies.

The Korea Railroad Research Institute (KRRI) (President: Dr. Seok-Youn Han) has developed a high-speed video monitoring robot to better respond to a variety of emergencies such as fire or flooding that may occur in tunnels or underground railway sections.

This robot runs on the track installed on the side wall of a tunnel at high speed, managing accident situations in the tunnel.

These robots will arrive on site within five minutes after an accident occurs and guide passengers to the nearest exit. Equipped with high-definition optical and thermal cameras, the robots deliver visual and acoustic data acquired on-site to the rail control center through both wired and wireless networks for swift response to accidents.

The robots will be located at intervals of 3 km and run in speed of over 20km/h, guiding passengers to the exit using loudspeakers and illuminating devices.

All parts of the robot are heat resistant so that it can work even in high temperatures, such as in a fire.

Under normal circumstances, the robots are used for monitoring purposes, overseeing night tunnel worker’s management of tracks. They can measure temperature, humidity and fine dust concentration levels in underground environments and diagnose different abnormal conditions in tunnels using the AI-powered video analysis devices.

This system has been developed by robot developer Hyunsung Co., Ltd. (CEO: Byung-Kang Park) and Jinwon System Co., Ltd. (President/CEO: Je-Pil Yu) as a monitoring system developer along with KRRI. Currently, the system is undergoing test operations in tunnel sections of KRRI’s Osong Railway Comprehensive Test Track.

※ Related research project

- Title: Development of recognition, prediction and response technologies for high-risk emergencies on deep underground railway

- Funded by: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement (KAIA)

- Research period: 1st April 2023 - 31st December 2026

- Person in charge: Duckhee Lee, Senior Researcher at KRRI

“This robot has a detachable structure, which means that it is very easy to install and highly heat-resistant,” said Duckhee Lee, Senior Researcher at KRRI and head of this project. “We will focus more on AI-powered analytics technology to make the robots smarter.”

“It is expected that we will see more underground spaces, such as underground railways, being created in cities in the future,” said KRRI President Dr. Han. “KRRI is committed to R&D efforts so that this evacuation guide robot will play a key role in smart safety technology that will ensure the safety of railroad passengers and citizens more than anything else.”

Press Contacts

Yongmook KANG

Korea Railroad Research Institute

ymkang@krri.re.kr

+82 31 460 5184