China wants robots to drive industrial growth and exports
29 August 2024 
China is planning to use robots to drive a new round of industrial transformation. The decision was made at a recent meeting of the National Congress of the Communist Party.
The country is already the world’s largest robot market and wants to sell more Chinese-made robots outside the country. At present, it exports less than 5% of the robots it produces.
“China’s rapid development in industrial robot automation is extraordinary,” says Marina Bill, president of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). “The operational stock surpassed the 1.5-million mark two years ago, making China the first and only country with such a large industrial robot stock.”
In 2022 alone, it installed 290,258 robots, representing 52% of all global installations.
“So far the number of exported robots from China has been very limited,” reports Xiaogang Song, executive director and secretary-general of the China Robot Industry Alliance (CRIA). “Like any business looking for a new market, Chinese robot companies go where there is demand for their products.”
Song acknowldeges it will take time to build brand credibility and provide the service levels to meet the demands of foreign markets. In some areas, such as vision systems and AI applications, Chinese automation suppliers are benefiting from accelerating demand from Chinese manufacturers.
China is also at the forefront of humanoid robot developments with one manufacturer, Unitree, recently announcing that its G1 humanoid is ready for mass production, with prices starting at $16,000. The 1.3m-tall, 35kg machine contains up to 43 joint motors, each delivering up to 120Nm of torque. It has three-finger “hands” with force control to handle objects.
Massive investment in China’s automotive industry has boosted demand for industrial robots, with the country being both the world’s largest car market and the world’s largest production base for cars – including electric cars.
China is also a major manufacturer of electronic devices, batteries, semiconductors and microchips. Since 2016, the electrical and electronics industry has replaced the automotive industry as the main buyer of industrial robots in China.
The latest data on the Chinese robot industry will be released by IFR when it publishes its World Robotics report in late September, 2024.
