South Korean scientists plan to develop security robots that will guard public areas and pursue criminals, the head of a government-funded research centre said this week.

Lee Ho-gil, head of the country's Center for Intelligent Robotics told the Korea Times that development work will begin next year if the plan is approved.

In a separate project, the South Korean government will start to develop armed military robots this year.

According to plans announced in October, the country's defence and information ministries are co-operating on a five-year $32.4m project to develop a heavily-armed insect-like battlefield robot armed with a variety of weapons.

The robot will be fitted with six or eight legs with wheeled 'feet' to allow it to operate on rough terrain.

"The robots will be directed by a remote control system or move autonomously via their own artificial intelligence systems," Oh Sang-rok, a ministry of information and communications project manager, told reporters this week.

Korea's government sees robotics as a potential $100bn industry by 2020, officials said last month.