Korea Heritage Service receives wearable robots from Hyundai to protect heritage site workers
A worker at a regional heritage-care center with Hyundai's X-ble Shoulder device / Courtesy of Korea Heritage Service
The Korea Heritage Service held a donation ceremony on Tuesday to receive 10 wearable robotic devices from Hyundai Motor, intended to improve safety and efficiency for workers at regional heritage-care centers across the country.
The ceremony, held at the Haenggung-dong administrative welfare center and Hwaryeongjeon Shrine in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, marked the handover of X-ble Shoulder devices — unpowered, wearable exoskeletons developed by the Hyundai Motor and Kia robotics lab to support shoulder muscles during repetitive overhead tasks.
The devices will go to four regional heritage-care centers, in Gyeonggi Province, northern North Gyeongsang Province, western Jeonnam-Gwanju Special Metropolitan City and North Chungcheong Province.
The agency said the equipment is expected to ease musculoskeletal strain and reduce the risk of workplace accidents for staff who often raise their arms repeatedly while inspecting and maintaining heritage sites.
The regional heritage-care program is a routine, preventive maintenance initiative funded by Korea's lottery fund. Field workers regularly monitor state-designated heritage sites, carrying out minor repairs for small-scale damage and maintaining the sites and their surrounding landscapes.
The agency described the donation as a corporate social responsibility initiative meant to improve conditions for on-site heritage workers, calling it a model example of public-private cooperation aimed at closing safety gaps in the field.
Officials from both organizations' heritage policy and sustainability management divisions attended the ceremony.
The Korea Heritage Service said it plans to continue pursuing partnerships with outside organizations, in addition to its own inspections, to further improve working conditions for heritage-care staff and build a more systematic maintenance system that allows more citizens to enjoy the country's heritage sites.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.