Province selected for Ministry of Science and ICT pilot program to protect residents from floods and other disasters in real time
South Chungcheong Province plans to deploy on-device AI technology in everyday settings to protect residents' lives in real time from disasters such as heavy rainfall.
The provincial government announced Friday it had been selected for the Ministry of Science and ICT's "2026 On-Device AI Service Demonstration and Diffusion" program.
On-device AI — the centerpiece of the project — is an advanced technology that performs AI computations directly on a device, without routing data through an external cloud server.
The province plans to apply the technology to disaster safety, building an intelligent safety network to protect residents' lives.
With a total project budget of 10.7 billion won — including 5.9 billion won (about $3.86 million) in national government funding secured through the selection — the province will spend the next two years conducting full-scale demonstrations of two core urban safety services centered on Cheonan.
The first initiative will establish a flood and urban inundation response system in which intelligent sensors and closed-circuit television cameras equipped with on-device AI instantly assess signs of flooding or overflow at below-ground vehicle passages and urban streams, overcoming the limitations of manual monitoring.
Even in extreme disaster conditions where communications are likely to be cut off, the devices will independently detect emergencies, trigger advance warnings and block vehicles from entering below-ground passages — securing the critical window of time needed to prevent casualties.
In addition, four-legged "AI robot dogs" will be deployed along riverside walking paths and in parks to monitor public safety.
The robots will patrol areas outside the reach of personnel and CCTV cameras, detecting signs of abnormal behavior such as assault and loitering in real time, creating an environment where residents can enjoy their leisure time with peace of mind.
"This project is expected not only to dramatically cut disaster response times, but also to resolve privacy concerns by processing video data on-site without transmitting it externally," a provincial official said. "In particular, by providing large-scale demonstration opportunities to AI specialist companies in the region, it will also serve as a catalyst for developing the next-generation AI industry ecosystem across the province."
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
