It's started: Robot Uprising Begins as China Turns to Machines to Fill in Gaps in the Workforce
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China’s road to robot-deployment dominance is clear:
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimlaw...turing-chinas-betting-on-robots/#40287be78cd5
- Build them. It’s widely recognized that the Chinese market lags behind the rest of the world in the skills and knowledge needed to design, build and deliver robots. That’s going to change. According to the China Machinery Industry Foundation, the country plans to increase annual sales of domestically produced industrial robots to 100,000 by 2020. Earlier this year, there were an estimated 800 start-up robotics companies in China, launched to take advantage of government incentives.
- Buy them. In 2015, China acquired 75,000 robots, nearly twice the number from 2013 and outpacing all of the European countries combined in terms of robot acquisition. It is expected to increase investment by 20 percent each year, and reach 400,000 robots acquired by 2019.
- Put them to work. In 2016, China installed 90,000 new robots. That’s one-third of the world total and 30 percent more than the year before.
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- In 2016, the Global Innovation Index recognized China for its innovation and leadership in supercomputing, gene editing, big-data analytics, and 5G mobile technology and making it the first ever middle-income economy to break into the top 25 countries.
- Productivity is on the rise, forecasted to grow 6-7% through 2025, outpacing Vietnam and India – rivals for volume production.
- Quality can be found. Manufacturers in China are eager to prove they’ve got what it takes to compete globally. …and US companies are finding they can be very useful in launching new products in highly competitive markets. Case in point: Scott Colosimo, president of Cleveland Cyclewerks found the US manufacturers simply would not take him seriously when he launched his retro motorcycle. After months of being turned down, Colosimo turned to China – where he found the only questions they asked were “how many?” and “how long?” Now 10 years later, he’s proven that you can build a company with products made in China.
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Expert says China is ready to wrest robotics leadership
By Ouyang Shijia | China Daily | Updated: 2017-09-25 07:43
Toshio Fukuda, a member of the Science Council of Japan. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Seeking to be at the forefront of the next technological revolution, China is committed to cooperate with more countries and will be able to lead the world in several fields of robotics in the next five to ten years, said a member of the Science Council of Japan.
Toshio Fukuda is a professor of robotics and a renowned authority on the subject. He also works under the 1,000 Talent Plan for High-level Foreign Experts at the Beijing Institute of Technology. He said after years of booming development, China's robotics market is now growing at a decent speed, and remains faster than other major countries.
"China is a gold mine for innovation and technologies and has large markets for robotics," he said. "With the supportive policies, abundant resources provided by both the government and the companies and more forms of cooperation, China will catch up within a few years and then overtake other developed countries to take the top spot in many fields of robotics."
With expertise in micro-and nano-robotics and bio-robotics, Fukuda is recognized globally as a top robotics expert and a pioneer in multi-locomotion robots and simulator. He is also the director of Division X Systems & Control of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and has won dozens of key academic awards, including the Chinese Government Friendship Award.
He said during the World Robot Conference in Beijing last month that China is now at a new phase with the ability to produce its original robots, and will be able to lead the world in manufacturing robots and making service robots in the future.
"Particularly in China, there will be a huge market for services robots that assist people in improving the living conditions, such as the cleaning robots, caring robots for elderly people and kids and the data logging robots for healthcare.
"After decades of economic boom and development, Chinese people now are sufficiently affluent to be able to afford a better quality of life. And I believe that in the near future, those service robots would be able to cater to people's specific needs and bring much more value than we thought today."
In 2015, China introduced the Made in China 2025 strategy, a 10-year national plan to transform the country into a world-class high-tech manufacturing power. The plan aims to move manufacturing up on the value chain, developing several key sectors, including robotics.
With the rapid development in robotics in recent years, China is becoming an increasingly important market for robotics.
The International Federation of Robotics estimates that China's shipments of robots rose 27 percent to around 90,000 units in 2016, almost a third of the global total. And the number is expected to almost double to 160,000 in 2019.
Fukuda said Japan and China should cooperate together in developing and producing the necessary robots for consumers. Chinese robot companies should grasp the opportunity, he said.
"The competition in robotics will be very fierce. Instead of being locked in a competitive environment in first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai, companies should find new niche markets and even target small towns," he said.
By Ouyang Shijia | China Daily | Updated: 2017-09-25 07:43
Seeking to be at the forefront of the next technological revolution, China is committed to cooperate with more countries and will be able to lead the world in several fields of robotics in the next five to ten years, said a member of the Science Council of Japan.
Toshio Fukuda is a professor of robotics and a renowned authority on the subject. He also works under the 1,000 Talent Plan for High-level Foreign Experts at the Beijing Institute of Technology. He said after years of booming development, China's robotics market is now growing at a decent speed, and remains faster than other major countries.
"China is a gold mine for innovation and technologies and has large markets for robotics," he said. "With the supportive policies, abundant resources provided by both the government and the companies and more forms of cooperation, China will catch up within a few years and then overtake other developed countries to take the top spot in many fields of robotics."
With expertise in micro-and nano-robotics and bio-robotics, Fukuda is recognized globally as a top robotics expert and a pioneer in multi-locomotion robots and simulator. He is also the director of Division X Systems & Control of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and has won dozens of key academic awards, including the Chinese Government Friendship Award.
He said during the World Robot Conference in Beijing last month that China is now at a new phase with the ability to produce its original robots, and will be able to lead the world in manufacturing robots and making service robots in the future.
"Particularly in China, there will be a huge market for services robots that assist people in improving the living conditions, such as the cleaning robots, caring robots for elderly people and kids and the data logging robots for healthcare.
"After decades of economic boom and development, Chinese people now are sufficiently affluent to be able to afford a better quality of life. And I believe that in the near future, those service robots would be able to cater to people's specific needs and bring much more value than we thought today."
In 2015, China introduced the Made in China 2025 strategy, a 10-year national plan to transform the country into a world-class high-tech manufacturing power. The plan aims to move manufacturing up on the value chain, developing several key sectors, including robotics.
With the rapid development in robotics in recent years, China is becoming an increasingly important market for robotics.
The International Federation of Robotics estimates that China's shipments of robots rose 27 percent to around 90,000 units in 2016, almost a third of the global total. And the number is expected to almost double to 160,000 in 2019.
Fukuda said Japan and China should cooperate together in developing and producing the necessary robots for consumers. Chinese robot companies should grasp the opportunity, he said.
"The competition in robotics will be very fierce. Instead of being locked in a competitive environment in first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai, companies should find new niche markets and even target small towns," he said.
TaiShang
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Highly maneuverable and programmable Chinese six-legged robot amazes the world
By Liu Ning (People's Daily Online) 16:19, September 30, 2017
Highly maneuverable and programmable Chinese six-legged robot amazes the world.
Video here: http://en.people.cn/n3/2017/0930/c90000-9276017.html
***
THE PROMISE AND CREEPINESS OF A SCUTTLING SIX-LEGGED ROBOT
THE UNCANNY VALLEY teems with creepy humanoids—machines not quite perfect enough to be mistaken for people, but not quite comically robotic enough to be endearing. Lately, they've been joined by robo-animals.
Now, a new robot is scuttling into the uncanny valley. Hexa has six legs, looks like a bug, and moves with bizarre confidence. And it just might bring robot hacking to the masses.
Hexa uses a variety of sensors to find its way around, including a camera and distance sensor. You control this bot with your phone, and it scales steps and uneven terrain with ease. You don't have to control individual legs to stagger up a step, either—Hexa automatically summits obstacles along the way.
VINCROSS
Chalk that up to the six legs. It takes a lot of energy to balance on two legs, and it’s damn hard to make a robot do what comes naturally to us humans. Having six legs, on the other hand, saves energy and gives the robot extra abilities. “You only need three legs to stand on the ground, and we can use the other three legs to maintain balance or climb stairs,” says Andy Xu, the COO of Vincross, Hexa’s maker.
Six legs aren't necessarily better than four—or two, or even one—but all those limbs give Hexa unique capabilities. Hexa has the stability and maneuverability to one day explore a collapsed building, for instance, while a two-legged robot might be better at navigating a standing building (which is, after all, designed with the human body in mind).
Still, the problems of locomotion in robotics are mighty, in part because innovation comes to hardware more slowly than software. Hardware is expensive and inaccessible for folks who don’t have access to multimillion-dollar labs or factories. Tinkering with software, on the other hand, is as easy as booting up a computer.
So with Hexa, Vincross sees an opportunity to bring experimental robotics to the masses. It's not just a six-legged bot—it's an open platform where budding roboticists can teach the robot new skills, from dance moves to object recognition. Developers can then sell these skills in a marketplace, essentially an app store for robot hacks. Whether you train it to scale mountains or bust a move is totally up to you.
Video here: https://www.wired.com/story/a-six-legged-insectile-robot-is-just-as-creepy-as-it-sounds
By Liu Ning (People's Daily Online) 16:19, September 30, 2017
Highly maneuverable and programmable Chinese six-legged robot amazes the world.
Video here: http://en.people.cn/n3/2017/0930/c90000-9276017.html
***
THE PROMISE AND CREEPINESS OF A SCUTTLING SIX-LEGGED ROBOT
THE UNCANNY VALLEY teems with creepy humanoids—machines not quite perfect enough to be mistaken for people, but not quite comically robotic enough to be endearing. Lately, they've been joined by robo-animals.
Now, a new robot is scuttling into the uncanny valley. Hexa has six legs, looks like a bug, and moves with bizarre confidence. And it just might bring robot hacking to the masses.
Hexa uses a variety of sensors to find its way around, including a camera and distance sensor. You control this bot with your phone, and it scales steps and uneven terrain with ease. You don't have to control individual legs to stagger up a step, either—Hexa automatically summits obstacles along the way.
VINCROSS
Chalk that up to the six legs. It takes a lot of energy to balance on two legs, and it’s damn hard to make a robot do what comes naturally to us humans. Having six legs, on the other hand, saves energy and gives the robot extra abilities. “You only need three legs to stand on the ground, and we can use the other three legs to maintain balance or climb stairs,” says Andy Xu, the COO of Vincross, Hexa’s maker.
Six legs aren't necessarily better than four—or two, or even one—but all those limbs give Hexa unique capabilities. Hexa has the stability and maneuverability to one day explore a collapsed building, for instance, while a two-legged robot might be better at navigating a standing building (which is, after all, designed with the human body in mind).
Still, the problems of locomotion in robotics are mighty, in part because innovation comes to hardware more slowly than software. Hardware is expensive and inaccessible for folks who don’t have access to multimillion-dollar labs or factories. Tinkering with software, on the other hand, is as easy as booting up a computer.
So with Hexa, Vincross sees an opportunity to bring experimental robotics to the masses. It's not just a six-legged bot—it's an open platform where budding roboticists can teach the robot new skills, from dance moves to object recognition. Developers can then sell these skills in a marketplace, essentially an app store for robot hacks. Whether you train it to scale mountains or bust a move is totally up to you.
Video here: https://www.wired.com/story/a-six-legged-insectile-robot-is-just-as-creepy-as-it-sounds
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Oct 06, 2017 02:31 PM
Alibaba Says Fill ’er Up to Its First ‘Smart Gas Station’
By Coco Feng
Although China’s state-owned oil giants have dominated the country’s gas station market, stations owned by private companies still accounted for 47% in 2015. Photo: IC
After experimenting with “smart” convenience stores, e-commerce giant Alibaba plans to extend its smarts to gas stations.
The company will build an unstaffed gas station in its home city of Hangzhou by the end of the month. A robotic arm will fuel the vehicles, several Chinese media reported.
The station will also have an unstaffed convenience store, a model that Alibaba showcased in July, which allows patrons to enter by scanning a QR code at the entrance, pick up their favorite items and automatically pay at the checkout gate.
An updated version of the smart gas station will launch next year, where information about the driver and his or her car, such as driver identity, car model, and fuel product type, will be automatically recognized.
Although China’s top oil producer China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and the largest refiner China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., known as Sinopec, have dominated the gas station market, those owned by private companies still accounted for 47% in 2015, although many were located in remote towns and villages, according to Bosi Data Research Center.
Privately-run petrol stations have grown faster than the state-owned ones, adding 425 new stations in 2015, while Sinopec launched 292 stations and CNPC had only nine news ones, according to Bosi.
Alibaba’s move is not abrupt, as it has had a presence in the petroleum sector.
In 2015, it teamed up with Sinopec to launch an online industrial supply system. Alibaba has also managed to embed the affiliated mobile payment tool Alipay in thousands of gas stations.
The move is part of the online behemoth’s effort to enrich the real-world shopping experience with technology and convenience. Besides the staffless convenience store, it is building its own shopping mall, named More Mall, in Hangzhou.
Alibaba Says Fill ’er Up to Its First ‘Smart Gas Station’
By Coco Feng
After experimenting with “smart” convenience stores, e-commerce giant Alibaba plans to extend its smarts to gas stations.
The company will build an unstaffed gas station in its home city of Hangzhou by the end of the month. A robotic arm will fuel the vehicles, several Chinese media reported.
The station will also have an unstaffed convenience store, a model that Alibaba showcased in July, which allows patrons to enter by scanning a QR code at the entrance, pick up their favorite items and automatically pay at the checkout gate.
An updated version of the smart gas station will launch next year, where information about the driver and his or her car, such as driver identity, car model, and fuel product type, will be automatically recognized.
Although China’s top oil producer China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and the largest refiner China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., known as Sinopec, have dominated the gas station market, those owned by private companies still accounted for 47% in 2015, although many were located in remote towns and villages, according to Bosi Data Research Center.
Privately-run petrol stations have grown faster than the state-owned ones, adding 425 new stations in 2015, while Sinopec launched 292 stations and CNPC had only nine news ones, according to Bosi.
Alibaba’s move is not abrupt, as it has had a presence in the petroleum sector.
In 2015, it teamed up with Sinopec to launch an online industrial supply system. Alibaba has also managed to embed the affiliated mobile payment tool Alipay in thousands of gas stations.
The move is part of the online behemoth’s effort to enrich the real-world shopping experience with technology and convenience. Besides the staffless convenience store, it is building its own shopping mall, named More Mall, in Hangzhou.
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This Robotics Startup Wants to Be the Boston Dynamics of China
By Erico Guizzo
Posted 16 Oct 2017 | 21:15 GMT
Photo: Unitree Robotics
Of all the legged robots built in labs all over the world, few inspire more awe and reverence than Boston Dynamics’ quadrupeds.
Chinese roboticist Xing Wang has long been a fan of BigDog, AlphaDog, Spot, SpotMini, and other robots that Boston Dynamics has famously introduced over the years. “Marc Raibert … is my idol,” Wang once told us about the founder and president of Boston Dynamics.
Now Wang, with funding from a Chinese angel investor, has founded his own robotics company, called Unitree Robotics and based in Hangzhou, outside Shanghai. Wang says his plan is making legged robots as popular and affordable as smartphones and drones.
Unitree’s first robot is a four-legged robodog called Laikago, which the company is announcing this week. (The name comes from Laika, the Soviet space dog, which Wang admires as a symbol of “human exploration of the unknown.”)
Laikago is designed as a research platform for scientists and roboticists, but Wang hopes science museums and robot enthusiasts may also want one. With further improvements, the robot could also be used in applications like package delivery, he says.
As a grad student at Shanghai University, Wang and his adviser, Jia Wenchuan, built a quadruped with 3-degrees-of-freedom legs that could walk forward, backward, and sideways, and also over rough terrain.
Boston Dynamics’ machines served as inspiration, but Wang wanted to “make quadruped robots simpler and smaller, so that they can help ordinary people with things like carrying objects or as companions,” he told us.
Photo: Unitree RoboticsXing Wang tests his robot’s ability to stabilize itself by kicking it, a tradition started by Boston Dynamics engineers.
For now Laikago can’t do much on its own. The robot is currently not autonomous and needs to be remotely operated, using a Wi-Fi-enabled controller. It doesn’t carry stereo cameras or lidar sensors, though users can easily integrate additonal modules, Wang says.
Unitree created the robot’s mechanical structure, control system, and motion control algorithms from scratch. It also designed custom motors, drivers, and force sensors for the robot.
Laikago will sell initially for between US $20,000 and $30,000, but Wang hopes to bring the price down with further refinements and higher volume.
Photo: Unitree Robotics
Laikago is designed as a research platform but could also be used as a robot pet.
Of all “tricks” Laikago can do, Wang’s favorite is the robot’s ability to remain stable in uneven surfaces, or when kicked. He was surprised by some of the motions the robot did to stabilize itself, including motions he did not explicitly program the robot to do.
“The actual performance is surprisingly good,” Wang says of the robot’s control algorithms. “Math is wonderful.”
This Robotics Startup Wants to Be the Boston Dynamics of China - IEEE Spectrum
By Erico Guizzo
Posted 16 Oct 2017 | 21:15 GMT
Photo: Unitree Robotics
Of all the legged robots built in labs all over the world, few inspire more awe and reverence than Boston Dynamics’ quadrupeds.
Chinese roboticist Xing Wang has long been a fan of BigDog, AlphaDog, Spot, SpotMini, and other robots that Boston Dynamics has famously introduced over the years. “Marc Raibert … is my idol,” Wang once told us about the founder and president of Boston Dynamics.
Now Wang, with funding from a Chinese angel investor, has founded his own robotics company, called Unitree Robotics and based in Hangzhou, outside Shanghai. Wang says his plan is making legged robots as popular and affordable as smartphones and drones.
Unitree’s first robot is a four-legged robodog called Laikago, which the company is announcing this week. (The name comes from Laika, the Soviet space dog, which Wang admires as a symbol of “human exploration of the unknown.”)
Laikago is designed as a research platform for scientists and roboticists, but Wang hopes science museums and robot enthusiasts may also want one. With further improvements, the robot could also be used in applications like package delivery, he says.
As a grad student at Shanghai University, Wang and his adviser, Jia Wenchuan, built a quadruped with 3-degrees-of-freedom legs that could walk forward, backward, and sideways, and also over rough terrain.
Boston Dynamics’ machines served as inspiration, but Wang wanted to “make quadruped robots simpler and smaller, so that they can help ordinary people with things like carrying objects or as companions,” he told us.
Photo: Unitree Robotics
For now Laikago can’t do much on its own. The robot is currently not autonomous and needs to be remotely operated, using a Wi-Fi-enabled controller. It doesn’t carry stereo cameras or lidar sensors, though users can easily integrate additonal modules, Wang says.
Unitree created the robot’s mechanical structure, control system, and motion control algorithms from scratch. It also designed custom motors, drivers, and force sensors for the robot.
Laikago will sell initially for between US $20,000 and $30,000, but Wang hopes to bring the price down with further refinements and higher volume.
Photo: Unitree Robotics
Laikago is designed as a research platform but could also be used as a robot pet.
Of all “tricks” Laikago can do, Wang’s favorite is the robot’s ability to remain stable in uneven surfaces, or when kicked. He was surprised by some of the motions the robot did to stabilize itself, including motions he did not explicitly program the robot to do.
“The actual performance is surprisingly good,” Wang says of the robot’s control algorithms. “Math is wonderful.”
This Robotics Startup Wants to Be the Boston Dynamics of China - IEEE Spectrum
TaiShang
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China's leading robot maker opens industrial park
Xinhu, October 19, 2017
This undated photo shows students are attracted by a robot exhibited in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province. [File photo/China News Service]
Siasun Robot and Automation Co., Ltd., China's leading robot manufacturer, on Wednesday opened an industrial park in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province.
With a total investment of nearly 2 billion yuan (US$302 million), the industrial park covers an area of 260,000 square meters, or the size of 36 soccer fields, in Shenyang's Hunnan New Area.
Construction of the park took more than five years. It includes an office building, a robot demonstration center, a research and development center and manufacturing centers for digital equipment and large machinery.
It also has a digital intelligent factory, the first demonstration manufacturing project for China's Industry 4.0, which combines robots, intelligent equipment and information technology into the manufacturing process.
With robots manufacturing robots, the factory is designed to reach an annual production capacity of 10,000 robots and intelligent manufacturing equipment units, said Qu Daokui, founder of Siasun.
Listed in Shenzhen, Siasun is China's leading robot maker with a research and development team of over 2,000 people.
Xinhu, October 19, 2017
This undated photo shows students are attracted by a robot exhibited in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province. [File photo/China News Service]
Siasun Robot and Automation Co., Ltd., China's leading robot manufacturer, on Wednesday opened an industrial park in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province.
With a total investment of nearly 2 billion yuan (US$302 million), the industrial park covers an area of 260,000 square meters, or the size of 36 soccer fields, in Shenyang's Hunnan New Area.
Construction of the park took more than five years. It includes an office building, a robot demonstration center, a research and development center and manufacturing centers for digital equipment and large machinery.
It also has a digital intelligent factory, the first demonstration manufacturing project for China's Industry 4.0, which combines robots, intelligent equipment and information technology into the manufacturing process.
With robots manufacturing robots, the factory is designed to reach an annual production capacity of 10,000 robots and intelligent manufacturing equipment units, said Qu Daokui, founder of Siasun.
Listed in Shenzhen, Siasun is China's leading robot maker with a research and development team of over 2,000 people.
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China's largest robotic industrial base opens in Shenyang
By Zhu Lingqing | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-10-19 13:05
Workers test industrial robots at a Siasun Robot & Automation Co Ltd plant in Shenyang, Liaoning province. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Siasun's high-tech industrial park, the largest robotic industrial base in China, went into operation in Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning province, on Wednesday, according to a report by chinanews.com.
In the industrial park, there is China's first demonstration manufacturing project for Industry 4.0, a digital intelligent factory with an annual production capability of more than 10,000 sets of robots, and intelligent manufacturing equipment.
It integrates robots, intelligent equipment and information technology into the manufacturing process, which covers the production, quality and logistics processes of manufacturing and can realize the transformation process from product design to manufacture.
Siasun's President Qu Daokui said at the opening ceremony that the company, after 17 years of development, has become a name card of China's robotic industry to the world.
Belonging to Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), Siasun Robot & Automation Co Ltd (Siasun) is a leading robotic enterprise in China and has the most comprehensive robotic product lines in the world.
The industrial park will serve as a new ecological platform that integrates the industry, finance, education and innovation, Qu said.
According to Siasun, covering a floor area of 340,000 square meters, the high-tech industrial park consists of a headquarter building, a robotics exhibition center, a research and development center and various kinds of manufacturing centers.
With a total investment of nearly 2 billion yuan ($302 million), construction of the industrial park took more than five years, according to Xinhua.
Siasun, taking the manufacturing of advanced intelligent equipment and the R&D of robotic technologies as its core, leads in manufacturing mobile robot, service robot, industrial robot, vacuum and specialized robot.
The robotic industry in China has witnessed rapid development recently as the government is attaching great importance to it.
In 2015, the "Made in China 2025" strategy was launched in China to upgrade China's manufacturing, especially in areas such as intelligent manufacturing and robotics.
By Zhu Lingqing | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-10-19 13:05
Siasun's high-tech industrial park, the largest robotic industrial base in China, went into operation in Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning province, on Wednesday, according to a report by chinanews.com.
In the industrial park, there is China's first demonstration manufacturing project for Industry 4.0, a digital intelligent factory with an annual production capability of more than 10,000 sets of robots, and intelligent manufacturing equipment.
It integrates robots, intelligent equipment and information technology into the manufacturing process, which covers the production, quality and logistics processes of manufacturing and can realize the transformation process from product design to manufacture.
Siasun's President Qu Daokui said at the opening ceremony that the company, after 17 years of development, has become a name card of China's robotic industry to the world.
Belonging to Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), Siasun Robot & Automation Co Ltd (Siasun) is a leading robotic enterprise in China and has the most comprehensive robotic product lines in the world.
The industrial park will serve as a new ecological platform that integrates the industry, finance, education and innovation, Qu said.
According to Siasun, covering a floor area of 340,000 square meters, the high-tech industrial park consists of a headquarter building, a robotics exhibition center, a research and development center and various kinds of manufacturing centers.
With a total investment of nearly 2 billion yuan ($302 million), construction of the industrial park took more than five years, according to Xinhua.
Siasun, taking the manufacturing of advanced intelligent equipment and the R&D of robotic technologies as its core, leads in manufacturing mobile robot, service robot, industrial robot, vacuum and specialized robot.
The robotic industry in China has witnessed rapid development recently as the government is attaching great importance to it.
In 2015, the "Made in China 2025" strategy was launched in China to upgrade China's manufacturing, especially in areas such as intelligent manufacturing and robotics.
JSCh
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People's Daily, ChinaPublished on Oct 18, 2017
Wifi-equipped, self-charging robots that help move goods are now used in logistics warehouse of Alibaba Group in southeast China’s Guangdong province. The robots increased the warehouse’s output threefold, by sending good to human workers, who then arrange the products to be packed and posted to customers around the world.
The robots are able to avoid crashing with others and automatically choose the best route to move out of numerous possibilities.
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The rise of the robot industry in China sparks investment boom
2017-10-20 10:24 Global Times Editor: Li Yan
Overseas high-tech robotics companies have recently become a major takeover target for Chinese enterprises, as the Chinese government is pushing hard for an industry that can manufacture robots with the same quality as its foreign counterparts do.
One of the latest acquisitions is HTI Cybernetics Inc by Chongqing Nanshang Investment (Group) Co. HTI, founded in 1983, is a US veteran provider of integrated manufacturing solutions and robotic welding systems mainly used by automobile manufacturers like General Motors.
Upon the completion of the deal on October 3, Nanshang obtained a 100 percent stake in HTI for nearly $50 million, according to a press release obtained by the Global Times.
Meanwhile, Nanjing Estun Automation Co is in talks with German automation company M.A.i over 50.01 percent stake purchases worth a total of 8.87 million euros ($10.43 million).
The year 2016 was already a banner year for robotics companies' acquisitions, whereby 50 were sold for over $19 billion, according to calculations made by industry site therobotreport.com. Among them, over 47 percent involved Chinese money, with Midea's high-profile purchase of German robot maker Kuka AG drawing significant attention worldwide.
Helen Koo, CEO of the China operation at Los Angeles-headquartered Crestridge Consulting, predicted that more and more acquisitions will likely take place in the robotics industry in the future.
Successful takeover cases like the Midea-Kuka deal will encourage Chinese companies who want to seek acquisitions in the robotics sector, Koo told the Global Times Tuesday.
Besides, the high-end manufacturing and robotics industry is greatly supported by the Chinese government, making it easier for Chinese investors to pursue assets in those sectors, despite the country's tight control on capital outflow, she noted.
Crestridge Consulting was the exclusive financial advisor for Nanshang's takeover.
Koo recalled that the deal was made smoothly and that Nanshang wired the funds out roughly one month ahead of the closing date.
Gaining competitiveness
Chinese companies expect overseas acquisitions to help them obtain world-advanced robotics technologies.
According to a stock filing posted by Estun on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in September, the company will speed up the innovation and localization of German technologies after acquiring M.A.i so as to compete with other international robotics players in China's fiercely competitive automation battleground.
China's robot market, the world's largest since 2013, is crucial turf.
"China is by far the biggest robot market in the world regarding annual sales and operational stock," said International Federation of Robotics (IFR) President Joe Gemma in a report released in mid-August.
"It is the fastest-growing market worldwide. There has never been such a dynamic rise in such a short period of time in any other market," Gemma continued.
During the 2018-20 period, robot sales in China are expected to increase between 15 percent and 20 percent on average every year.
Global automation giants seem to have already gained a strong foothold in the market, supplying two-thirds of industrial robots sold in China's booming electronics industry in 2016, according to data from IFR.
This year, more than 30 percent of the world's industrial robots are expected to go to China, and the figures could reach 40 percent by 2019, IFR data showed.
As the world's largest robots buyer, China is also beefing up efforts to boost and strengthen its own robot manufacturing industry under the guidance of the "Made in China 2025" strategy.
In April 2016, the Chinese authorities released the Robotics Industry Development Plan (2016-2020), pledging to forge an industry that can produce 100,000 Made-in-China industrial robots annually by 2020.
Analysts said that having the ability to make homegrown robots is significant for China, which is on course to automation.
"The over-reliance on foreign robot imports will lift up domestic manufacturing costs," Li Ting, director of the research center at the Chinese Institute of Electronics, told the Global Times Tuesday.
According to Li's estimates, imported robots are usually priced high, costing 80,000 yuan ($12,094) to 100,000 yuan more than domestic counterparts.
Chinese achievements
Although Chinese robot suppliers do not seize as many market shares as their foreign peers do, they are expanding aggressively.
The sales of Chinese robot makers in the nation's electrical and electronics industry, for instance, rose almost 120 percent last year year-on-year, much faster in comparison to the 59 percent growth rate posted by all international robot suppliers in the segment.
Overseas acquisitions and cooperation helped narrow the gap between domestic robot makers and their foreign peers, said analysts.
On October 9, Guangdong Tianji Robot Co, a joint venture between Shenzhen-based Everwein Precision and Japan's leading robot maker Yaskawa, unveiled the world's fastest industrial six-axis robot, dubbed as "TR8," according to a report by the China Securities Journal.
Everwein, which has a 65 percent controlling stake in Tianji, was quoted by the report as saying that it plans to produce 3,000 units of TR8s next year and 5,000 units in 2019.
Six-axis robots have greater flexibility than those with fewer axes and can perform complex tasks like welding, assembling and disassembling.
Another Chinese industrial robot maker Siasun Robot and Automation Co claimed in a post on its website in September that it is almost at the same level as foreign peers in terms of robot's controlling and precision abilities. And it took about nine years for it to achieve what foreigners achieved in 50 years.
Two-thirds of robots produced by Siasun have been adopted by foreign companies, according to a report published by Xinhua News Agency in April.
Chinese companies have successfully challenged foreign monopoly in producing controllers, decelerators and servo motors - the core components of industrial robots - and can now manufacture robots completely on their own, Li said.
"Made-in-China controllers and decelerators can now partially meet international standards, but are still not the world's first class yet," he noted. "And as a latecomer, China needs some time to test the stability and reliability of its homegrown robots."
Besides seeking assets and technologies abroad, Chinese robot makers should also work hard and pursue self-innovation, analysts suggest.
It might not be easy to acquire large-scale high-tech overseas assets in the robotics industry as they could be under strict scrutiny by foreign authorities, said Koo, citing Midea's takeover of Kuka.
"So far, most of the acquisitions in the robotics sector seem to be related to system integration, the downstream segment of the industry," she noted.
http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/10-20/277780.shtml
2017-10-20 10:24 Global Times Editor: Li Yan
Overseas high-tech robotics companies have recently become a major takeover target for Chinese enterprises, as the Chinese government is pushing hard for an industry that can manufacture robots with the same quality as its foreign counterparts do.
One of the latest acquisitions is HTI Cybernetics Inc by Chongqing Nanshang Investment (Group) Co. HTI, founded in 1983, is a US veteran provider of integrated manufacturing solutions and robotic welding systems mainly used by automobile manufacturers like General Motors.
Upon the completion of the deal on October 3, Nanshang obtained a 100 percent stake in HTI for nearly $50 million, according to a press release obtained by the Global Times.
Meanwhile, Nanjing Estun Automation Co is in talks with German automation company M.A.i over 50.01 percent stake purchases worth a total of 8.87 million euros ($10.43 million).
The year 2016 was already a banner year for robotics companies' acquisitions, whereby 50 were sold for over $19 billion, according to calculations made by industry site therobotreport.com. Among them, over 47 percent involved Chinese money, with Midea's high-profile purchase of German robot maker Kuka AG drawing significant attention worldwide.
Helen Koo, CEO of the China operation at Los Angeles-headquartered Crestridge Consulting, predicted that more and more acquisitions will likely take place in the robotics industry in the future.
Successful takeover cases like the Midea-Kuka deal will encourage Chinese companies who want to seek acquisitions in the robotics sector, Koo told the Global Times Tuesday.
Besides, the high-end manufacturing and robotics industry is greatly supported by the Chinese government, making it easier for Chinese investors to pursue assets in those sectors, despite the country's tight control on capital outflow, she noted.
Crestridge Consulting was the exclusive financial advisor for Nanshang's takeover.
Koo recalled that the deal was made smoothly and that Nanshang wired the funds out roughly one month ahead of the closing date.
Gaining competitiveness
Chinese companies expect overseas acquisitions to help them obtain world-advanced robotics technologies.
According to a stock filing posted by Estun on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in September, the company will speed up the innovation and localization of German technologies after acquiring M.A.i so as to compete with other international robotics players in China's fiercely competitive automation battleground.
China's robot market, the world's largest since 2013, is crucial turf.
"China is by far the biggest robot market in the world regarding annual sales and operational stock," said International Federation of Robotics (IFR) President Joe Gemma in a report released in mid-August.
"It is the fastest-growing market worldwide. There has never been such a dynamic rise in such a short period of time in any other market," Gemma continued.
During the 2018-20 period, robot sales in China are expected to increase between 15 percent and 20 percent on average every year.
Global automation giants seem to have already gained a strong foothold in the market, supplying two-thirds of industrial robots sold in China's booming electronics industry in 2016, according to data from IFR.
This year, more than 30 percent of the world's industrial robots are expected to go to China, and the figures could reach 40 percent by 2019, IFR data showed.
As the world's largest robots buyer, China is also beefing up efforts to boost and strengthen its own robot manufacturing industry under the guidance of the "Made in China 2025" strategy.
In April 2016, the Chinese authorities released the Robotics Industry Development Plan (2016-2020), pledging to forge an industry that can produce 100,000 Made-in-China industrial robots annually by 2020.
Analysts said that having the ability to make homegrown robots is significant for China, which is on course to automation.
"The over-reliance on foreign robot imports will lift up domestic manufacturing costs," Li Ting, director of the research center at the Chinese Institute of Electronics, told the Global Times Tuesday.
According to Li's estimates, imported robots are usually priced high, costing 80,000 yuan ($12,094) to 100,000 yuan more than domestic counterparts.
Chinese achievements
Although Chinese robot suppliers do not seize as many market shares as their foreign peers do, they are expanding aggressively.
The sales of Chinese robot makers in the nation's electrical and electronics industry, for instance, rose almost 120 percent last year year-on-year, much faster in comparison to the 59 percent growth rate posted by all international robot suppliers in the segment.
Overseas acquisitions and cooperation helped narrow the gap between domestic robot makers and their foreign peers, said analysts.
On October 9, Guangdong Tianji Robot Co, a joint venture between Shenzhen-based Everwein Precision and Japan's leading robot maker Yaskawa, unveiled the world's fastest industrial six-axis robot, dubbed as "TR8," according to a report by the China Securities Journal.
Everwein, which has a 65 percent controlling stake in Tianji, was quoted by the report as saying that it plans to produce 3,000 units of TR8s next year and 5,000 units in 2019.
Six-axis robots have greater flexibility than those with fewer axes and can perform complex tasks like welding, assembling and disassembling.
Another Chinese industrial robot maker Siasun Robot and Automation Co claimed in a post on its website in September that it is almost at the same level as foreign peers in terms of robot's controlling and precision abilities. And it took about nine years for it to achieve what foreigners achieved in 50 years.
Two-thirds of robots produced by Siasun have been adopted by foreign companies, according to a report published by Xinhua News Agency in April.
Chinese companies have successfully challenged foreign monopoly in producing controllers, decelerators and servo motors - the core components of industrial robots - and can now manufacture robots completely on their own, Li said.
"Made-in-China controllers and decelerators can now partially meet international standards, but are still not the world's first class yet," he noted. "And as a latecomer, China needs some time to test the stability and reliability of its homegrown robots."
Besides seeking assets and technologies abroad, Chinese robot makers should also work hard and pursue self-innovation, analysts suggest.
It might not be easy to acquire large-scale high-tech overseas assets in the robotics industry as they could be under strict scrutiny by foreign authorities, said Koo, citing Midea's takeover of Kuka.
"So far, most of the acquisitions in the robotics sector seem to be related to system integration, the downstream segment of the industry," she noted.
http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/10-20/277780.shtml
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China's leading robot maker opens 2-bln-yuan industrial park
2017-10-19 08:40 Xinhua Editor: Gu Liping
Siasun Robot and Automation Co., Ltd., China's leading robot manufacturer, on Wednesday opened an industrial park in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province.
With a total investment of nearly 2 billion yuan (302 million U.S. dollars), the industrial park covers an area of 260,000 square meters, or the size of 36 soccer fields, in Shenyang's Hunnan New Area.
Construction of the park took more than five years. It includes an office building, a robot demonstration center, a research and development center and manufacturing centers for digital equipment and large machinery.
It also has a digital intelligent factory, the first demonstration manufacturing project for China's Industry 4.0, which combines robots, intelligent equipment and information technology into the manufacturing process.
With robots manufacturing robots, the factory is designed to reach an annual production capacity of 10,000 robots and intelligent manufacturing equipment units, said Qu Daokui, founder of Siasun.
Listed in Shenzhen, Siasun is China's leading robot maker with a research and development team of over 2,000 people.
http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/10-19/277578.shtml
2017-10-19 08:40 Xinhua Editor: Gu Liping
Siasun Robot and Automation Co., Ltd., China's leading robot manufacturer, on Wednesday opened an industrial park in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province.
With a total investment of nearly 2 billion yuan (302 million U.S. dollars), the industrial park covers an area of 260,000 square meters, or the size of 36 soccer fields, in Shenyang's Hunnan New Area.
Construction of the park took more than five years. It includes an office building, a robot demonstration center, a research and development center and manufacturing centers for digital equipment and large machinery.
It also has a digital intelligent factory, the first demonstration manufacturing project for China's Industry 4.0, which combines robots, intelligent equipment and information technology into the manufacturing process.
With robots manufacturing robots, the factory is designed to reach an annual production capacity of 10,000 robots and intelligent manufacturing equipment units, said Qu Daokui, founder of Siasun.
Listed in Shenzhen, Siasun is China's leading robot maker with a research and development team of over 2,000 people.
http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/10-19/277578.shtml
