Report paints upbeat picture of China's robot industry

The scale of China's robot industry is expected to reach US$17.4 billion by the end of this year, with an annual average growth rate of 22 percent over the past five years.

According to a latest report released by the Chinese Institute of Electronics at the recently-concluded World Robot Conference, China accounts for one-third of the global robot market size of US$51.3 billion. The conference was held in Beijing from August 18 to 21.

Industrial robots, the biggest category, account for about half of the market with a total value of US$8.7 billion, the report noted.

The annual growth rate of the domestic market for service robots and specialty robots would reach 32.8 percent and 25.8 percent, respectively.

There has been increasing integration of the robot industry with sectors such as new-generation information technology, biotechnology, new energy technology and new materials technology.

The Chinese Institute of Electronics report shows that the application scenario for robots has been expanding quickly in fields such as automotive manufacturing, electronic manufacturing, warehouse and transportation, health-care and medical service, and emergency rescue.

Demand for service robots will also be boosted thanks to demand in the fields of architecture and education and the domestic market size could exceed US$10 billion by 2024, the report predicted.

It also suggests strengthening the research and development of core robotic technologies and accelerating breakthroughs in robot system development, operating systems, lightweight design, and multi-robot collaboration.