Yangyang-gun has become the first local government in South Korea to launch a smart child-rearing support platform powered by AI and big data. The platform, called Yangyang ION, is designed to support the healthy development of infants, toddlers and teenagers.
The county was selected Tuesday for the Ministry of Science and ICT's 2025 Smart Village Dissemination and Expansion Project, a competitive grant program, and used the funding to build the country's first data-driven smart child-rearing support platform.
Yangyang ION integrates data on health, growth and play for children from infancy through adolescence, and operates separate systems for parents, teachers and administrators. Anyone can access the platform by searching "Yangyang ION" or "Yangyang child-rearing support platform" on major web portals.
Through the project, Yangyang-gun has installed smart equipment across four institutions — Yangyang Hana Daycare Center, Hyeonnam Hana Daycare Center, the Child-Rearing Support Center Family Center and a youth training center. The equipment includes AR exercise machines called Didim, body composition analyzers (InBody), biosignal monitors (Polar), AI cameras, musculoskeletal analyzers (X-Body) and GPS tracking terminals for daycare shuttle vehicles.
The AR game-based exercise program analyzes physical activity levels and movement patterns, while InBody devices measure growth indicators such as weight, muscle mass and body fat. X-Body equipment enables continuous monitoring of posture and musculoskeletal changes, and AI cameras objectively record and track behavioral characteristics throughout children's development.
The Didim program — an AR-based smart physical education curriculum — has been incorporated into the regular class schedule at Hana Daycare Center and will run through December.
Hana Daycare Center also provides a shuttle vehicle location service linked to the KidsNote app, allowing parents to check their children's arrival and departure status in real time.
Yangyang-gun plans to expand the smart child-rearing service countywide by embedding the programs into regular curricula and broadening access across the region. The county also aims to develop the initiative into a standard model for data-driven child-rearing support that can be shared with local governments nationwide.
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