SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's Ministry of Knowledge Economy said on Tuesday that English-teaching robots will be used at local schools in the country.

    The ministry said robots with English-teaching abilities will be used at local schools in the city of Masan and Daejon till February next year on a trial basis, in an attempt to better serve students in provincial cities.

    The ministry introduced two types of robots for this project, an "autonomous" unit with voice-recognition features and a "tele-presence" unit that a teacher can remotely control and communicate through a built-in camera and microphone with the students.

    The Korea Institute of Science and Technology led the implementation of this plan with the backing of the South Korean government which spent 400 million won (about 337,000 U.S. dollars)for additional research and development in related areas.