South Korea's robot exports more than doubled in 2011 from a year before, helping the country's robot industry expand in production scale, the government said Wednesday.

The country's exports of robots reached 521.1 billion won ($456 million) last year, up from 228.9 billion won in 2010, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

The balance from South Korea's robot trade with other countries turned to a surplus of 190.2 billion won last year from a deficit of 43.9 billion in 2010, the ministry said.

Buoyed by the export growth, the country's robot industry increased 20.3 percent on-year in production values to some 2.15 trillion won last year, breaking the 2-trillion-won mark for the first time.