China’s robotics industry enjoys robust development trend

China’s robotics industry has been enjoying robust development in recent years thanks to the country’s unremitting efforts.

Between 2016 and 2020, China’s robotics industry grew rapidly. In 2020, the operating income of the country’s robotics sector exceeded 100 billion yuan (about $15.8 billion) for the first time, and the output of industrial robots reached 212,000 units, statistics showed.

A robot works on the assembly line in a plant in Shengze township, Wujiang district, Suzhou city, east China’s Jiangsu province. (Xinhua/Li Bo)

During that period, China’s robotics industry enjoyed strong momentum in terms of its development, said Wang Weiming, an official with the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

As of last year, China was the world’s largest market for industrial robots for eight consecutive years, Wang added. In 2020, the manufacturing robot density, a metric used to measure a country’s level of automation, reached 246 units per 10,000 people in China, nearly twice the global average.

“The robotics industry will embrace leapfrog development, as a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is gaining momentum, and with a new generation of information technologies having been deeply integrated with robotic technologies,” Wang said.

Driven by new technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality and 5G, as well as incentive policies, China is accelerating its efforts to expand the application scenarios for its robotics industry. So far, industrial robots have been applied in 52 industry categories, including automobiles and electronics, while service and special robots have been widely used in sectors such as logistics, education and entertainment.

China will strive to become a global hub for robotics innovation by 2025, according to a plan for the development of the country’s robotics industry, which was recently issued by state organs such as the MIIT.

The country will make more efforts to achieve breakthroughs in core robot components and further improve the performance and reliability of robots, the plan said.

China will promote the integration of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing with robotic technologies, and continue to make breakthroughs in core robotic technologies and applications.