STANDING ON A CORNER at 7:50 on a Saturday morning, watching uniformed Korean middle-school students stream toward class, one might be reminded more of “Children of the Corn” than “Robocop.” Yet, just in time for the new “Transformers” flick, stepping inside a Korean high school in the near future might put you squarely on a battlefield where robot chaperones and horny Korean boys wage war. At stake? The chastity of young Korean maidens.

Starting this week a school in Seoul will be testing an OFRO, a robot originally developed by a German company but manufactured in Korea by DU Robo. The 4’ hunk o’ metal can cover 10,000 square meters at a 3.1 mile per hour clip, is equipped with a microphone, and received rave reviews after its German debut at last year’s World Cup, chasing football hooligans.

“One possible scenario is that OFRO will alert officials when it detects someone trying to seduce a student,” DU Robo CEO Kang Jun-won told The Korea Times. Upon spotting an incident teachers can warn the potential molester via loudspeaker, or they can dispatch the former model of school security—retired old men with cigarettes attached to their lips.

Using GPS the robot can be programmed to follow a set route. However, it can also be operated manually by remote control. Kang offered no solution to the problem of the control falling into evil hands, but he did say that if successful, other robots can be sent to Korean middle schools across the country at about $100,000 per bot.

When asked how she would feel if she saw a robot patrolling the hallways of her high school, 16-year-old Kim Mi-jeng of Busan suggested, “It could make school more fun.” But would she feel safer from boys with nasty thoughts on their minds? “We don’t have any boys at my school,” she replied. Still. she lamented at the fact that the robots, much like Korean police officers, won’t be equipped with guns.

The young men of Korea interviewed for this story implied that while the robots might prove to be an obstacle initially, they speculated that the forces of nature, of puberty, would reign supreme in the end.

“What if it rains and we’re all outside?” Kang Min-ho, a Busan middle school student said. “Is it waterproof? What if it runs out of battery?”

Mostly the young men agreed that having a robot at school would be an interesting diversion during the typical 12+ hour school day. “I think we need more things like that at school,” said Oh Chan-kuk, another Busan student. “Then we won’t have to play computer games. They’ll be right there at school walking around next to us.” •

Aaron Tassano lives in Busan, Korea. You can visit him at aarontassano.com.