Affordable robots performing practical tasks will likely to hit the domestic market in October next year.

The Information and Communication Ministry on Wednesday said it will launch a consortium of 15 robot manufacturers for the commercial sale of robots costing only one million won or some nine hundred-70 U-S dollars.

The three types slated for development include educational robots that read English-language books to children, those that clean and those that communicate with news and e-mail.

A ministry official said their prices will be lower than the three to four million won of existing robots.