The Korean government launched a new project called Ubiquitous Robotic Companion (URC) to push low-cost robots into the market.

The URC robots are network enabled and are supposed to cost about $1,000. Apparently the concept is that the robots 'intelligence' resides on the internet. Only the robots movement and navigation technology are inside the robot. The URC is pulling the necessary information from servers when it needs them.

One of the usage examples for URC robots is to pick up RFID tagged clothes sloppy kids leave around in the house and put them back in place. I think they need to work on the usage scenarios a bit more...
Korea tries hard to become a big player in the robot market.
More details on the Korea Herold. Photo: Telecoms Korea. (Thanks Larry R.)

See also the robots from Korean Yujin Robotics.