Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and Asan Medical Center will collaborate in developing medical robots and equipment.

The agreement to collaborate in the field was signed in Seoul on Monday.

“Medical robots are essential for providing the best medical services, and (the company) plans to expand their application to brain and spine surgery in the future to become a world leader in medical robotics,” Hyundai Heavy Industries senior executive vice president and CEO Kim Oi-hyun said at the signing ceremony.

Under the agreement, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Asan Medical Center will set up a dedicated laboratory within the Asan Institute for Life Sciences early next year to develop medical robots and equipment.

The laboratory will be staffed by 30 experts from Asan Medical Center’s faculty members and engineers from Hyundai Heavy Industries.

The shipbuilder added that an advisory board comprising 30 medical professors including chief of Asan Institute for Life Sciences Kim Choung-soo will be established to support the laboratory’s research.

With the market for medical robotics expected to undergo rapid expansion, Hyundai Heavy Industries has been pushing the field as one of its growth engine projects, and the company has been involved in various related projects including the state-led project for developing robots for artificial joint surgeries with indigenous technology concluded in March.

According to a report by the New York-based ABI Research, the value of the global market for medical robots will grow to $1.3 billion in 2016 from the $790 million projected for this year.

By Choi He-suk  (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)