PHOTOS Humanoid robot debuts as Olympic torchbearer in South Korea

HUBO in the self-driving car with Professor Dennis Hong as a passenger during the torch relay in Daejeon on Monday. / Yonhap

By Chyung Eun-ju

A robot carried the Olympic torch in the torch relay for the first time in Daejeon on Monday.

DRC-HUBO, a humanoid robot created by the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, sat at the controls with torchbearer Dennis Hong, engineering professor in UCLA, as passenger. Hong handed the torch to HUBO, who ran for 160 kilometers.

Professor Dennis Hong passes the flame to HUBO in Daejeon, Monday. / Yonhap

HUBO won the DARPA Robotics Challenge in 2015 and re-enacted one of its award-winning moves. The robot broke through a wall to hand the Olympic flame to its developer Professor Oh Jun-ho

HUBO passes the flame to Professor Oh Jun-ho, after breaking the wall on Monday in Daejeon. / Yonhap

“Through the robots' participation in the Olympic Torch relay, we were able to show the world how far Korea's robotics industry has developed, and show people the different ways that robots could be used in the near future,” said Oh.

Oh’s FX-2 robot, a next generation riding robot, carried the torch as well with a young aspiring scientist, Lee Jeong-jae, 14, in the pilot seat.

The pilot controlled the robot’s movements through the data-arm. Lee piloted the robot to grasp the torch with its five fingers.

Professor Oh Jun-ho passes the flame to the FX-2 robot on Monday, Daejeon. / Yonhap