South Korea will use domestically-made robots for dangerous tasks in forthcoming military operations in Iraq.

The head of the Intelligent Robotics Research Center at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, said the remote-controlled robot, named ROBHAZ-DT3 is designed to go up and down stairs or on a slope of less than a 45-degree inclination. It is also capable of demolishing bombs.

The size of an average vacuum cleaner, the robot resembles a small tank. It can also travel on precipitous roads at a speed of up to 12 kilometers per hour.

The Linux-programmed robot was jointly developed by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul National University and local robotics firm Yujin Robotics Co. in a joint project that started in August 1998.