China’s industrial robot yield reached 148,000 sets in 2018, accounting for more than 38 percent of total global production, said Miao Wei, Minister of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) at the 2019 World Robot Conference in Beijing on Aug. 20.

(Photo/Xinhua)

According to statistics, the value of China’s robot market reached $4.3 billion in the first half of 2019, said Huai Jinpeng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, at the conference, which attracted over 180 well-known enterprises in robotics from around the globe.

The global robot market value is expected to reach $29.4 billion in 2019, indicated a report on the development of China’s robotics industry released at the conference by the Chinese Institute of Electronics, according to Science and Technology Daily.

The value of China’s robot market is expected to reach $8.7 billion by the end of this year, said the report, indicating that the average growth rate of the global market from 2014 to 2019 stood at about 12.3 percent, while in China it hit 20.9 percent.

“China’s robot market has entered a period of rapid growth, with industrial robots in the country representing most in the world for seven years in a row. Meanwhile, China sees tremendous demand for service robots and significantly expanding application scenarios of specialized robots,” said the report.

Service robots have become an important area of the market in China. Growth of the service robot market size is estimated at around 33.1 percent this year, higher than the global average, suggested the report, indicating that in 2021, the worth of China’s service robot market will probably be close to $4 billion.

With the rapid development of robotics around the world, China’s robotics industry has made significant progress, said Miao, adding that in the most recent five years, the global robotics industry has witnessed ongoing innovation and entrepreneurship, steadily accelerated technological evolution and replacement, and a growth in applications.

The growth of the global industrial robotics industry has slowed down this year due to the influence of world economic development, said Miao.

Meanwhile, the minister noted that the development of robotics is faced with many problems and challenges, saying that the industry needs to improve core technologies, expand application scenarios and fields, and perfect risk prevention as well as relevant laws and regulations.

“As an important carrier of the integration of technological revolution and manufacturing innovation, the robotics industry is still an important driving force for boosting the transition from old drivers of growth to new ones and promoting high-quality economic development,” said Miao.

China sincerely welcomes various parties and will be glad to see them continue in the development of China’s robotics industry, said Miao, stressing that China encourages enterprises and organizations from home and abroad to carry out various exchanges, so as to construct an open and coordinated global industrial ecology and jointly boost the sound and sustainable development of the robotics industry worldwide.