Meet Tiro, the robot MC

A South Korean couple had a rather unusual master of ceremonies at their wedding this week - a robot.

Seok Gyeong-jae and his bride Daejeon held their ceremony 130 kilometres south of Seoul and Tiro, a yellow cone-shaped robot, was there to help. Mr Gyeong-jae is an engineer for Hanool Robotics, the company that designed Tiro, and the firm is claiming that this is the first instance where a robot has been an MC for a wedding, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.

Tiro addressed the bride and groom, and their guests, in a male voice, saying: "This is Tiro, master of ceremonies for today's wedding." The robot, worth 200 million won (£108, 883), has two arms and a dark-glass face with eyes and a mouth comprised of flashing lights. Following its wedding duties it will now be used for a range of other functions.

Other robots were present on the day, to help guests or to give performances. In South Korea, robots are beginning to be used in other areas of day-to-day life. It was reported earlier this year that a robot called OFRO would be used as a security guard in a school, while in September 2006 the South Korean government installed a sentry robot at the country's border with North Korea.