In 2015, after much research, I wrote about China having 194 robot companies and used screen shots of The Robot Report’s Global Map to show where they were and a chart to show their makeup. We’ve just concluded another research project and have added hundreds of new Chinese companies to the database and global map.

Why is China so focused on robots?

China installed 90,000 robots in 2016, 1/3 of the world’s total and a 30% increase over 2015. Why?

Simply said, China has three drivers helping them move toward country-wide adoption of robotics: scale, growth momentum, and money. Startup companies can achieve scale quickly because the domestic market is so large. Further, companies are under pressure to automate thereby causing double-digit demand for industrial robots (according to the International Federation of Robotics). Third, the government is strongly behind the move.

Made in China 2025 and 5-Year Plans

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for “a robot revolution” and initiated the “Made in China 2025” program. More than 1,000 firms and a new robotics association, CRIA (Chinese Robotics Industry Alliance) have emerged (or begun to transition) into robotics to take advantage of the program, according to a 2016 report by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. By contrast, according to the same report, the sector was virtually non-existent a decade ago.

Under “Made in China 2025,” and the five-year robot plan launched last April, Beijing is focusing on automating key sectors of the economy including car manufacturing, electronics, home appliances, logistics, and food production. At the same time, the government wants to increase the share of in-country-produced robots to more than 50% by 2020; up from 31% last year.

Robot makers, and companies that automate, are both eligible for subsidies, low-interest loans, tax waivers, rent-free land and other incentives. One such program lured back Chinese engineers working overseas; another oversaw billions of dollars poured into technology parks dedicated to robotics production and related businesses; another encouraged local governments to help regional companies deploy robots in their production processes; and despite its ongoing crackdown on capital outflows, green lights have been given to Chinese companies acquiring Western robotics technology companies.

Many of those acquisitions were reported by The Robot Report during 2016 and are reflected (with little red flags) in the chart reporting the top 15 acquisitions of robotic-related companies:

1. Midea, a Chinese consumer products manufacturer, acquired KUKA, one of the Big 4 global robot manufacturers
2. The Kion Group, a predominately Chinese-funded warehousing systems and equipment conglomerate, acquired Dematic, a large European AGV and material handling systems company
3. KraussMaffei, a big German industrial robots integrator, was acquired by ChemChina
4. Paslin, a US-based industrial robot integrator, was acquired by Zhejiang Wanfeng Technology, a Chinese industrial robot integrator

China has set goals to be able to make 150,000 industrial robots in 2020; 260,000 in 2025; and 400,000 by 2030. If achieved, the plan should help generate $88 billion over the next decade. China’s stated goal in both their 5-year plan and Made in China 2025 program is to overtake Germany, Japan, and the United States in terms of manufacturing sophistication by 2049, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. To make that happen, the government needs Chinese manufacturers to adopt robots by the millions. It also wants Chinese companies to start producing more of those robots.​

Analysts and Critics

Various research reports are predicting that more than 250,000 industrial pick and place, painting and welding robots will be purchased and deployed in China by 2019. That figure represents more than the total global sales of all types of industrial robots in 2014!

Research firms predicting dramatic growth for the domestic Chinese robotics industry are also predicting very low-cost devices. Their reports are contradicted by academics, roboticists and others who point out that there are so many new robot manufacturing companies in China that none will be able to manufacture many thousand robots per year and thus benefit from scale. Further, many of the components that comprise a robot are intricate and costly, e.g., speed reducers, servo motors and control panels. Consequently these are purchased from Nabtesco, Harmonic Drive, Sumitomo and other Japanese, German and US companies. Although a few of the startups are attempting to make reduction gears and other similar devices, the lack of these component manufacturers in China may put a cap on how low costs can go and on how much can be done in-country for the time being.

“We aim to increase the market share of homegrown servomotors, speed reducers and control panels in China to over 30 percent by 2018 or 2019,” said Qu Xianming, an expert with the National Manufacturing Strategy Advisory Committee, which advises the government on plans to upgrade the manufacturing sector. “By then, these indigenous components could be of high enough quality to be exported to foreign countries,” Qu said in an interview with China Daily. “Once the target is met, it will lay down a strong foundation for Chinese parts makers to expand their presence.”

Regardless, China, with governmental directives and incentives, has become both the world’s biggest buyer of robots and also is growing a very large in-country industry to make and sell robots of all types.

The Robot Report now has over 500 Chinese companies in its online directories and on its Global Map

The Robot Report and its research team have been able to identify over 500 companies that make or are directly involved in making robots in China. The CRIA (China Robot Industry Alliance), and other sources, proffer the number to be closer to 800. The Robot Report is limited by our own research capabilities, language translation limitations, and scarcity of information about robotics companies and their websites and contact people in China.

These companies are combined with other global companies – now totaling over 5,300 – in our online directories and plotted on our global map so that you can research by area. You can explore online and filter in a variety of ways.

Use Google’s directional and +/- markers to navigate, enlarge, and hone in on a geographical area of interest (or double click near where you want to enlarge). Click on one of the colored markers to get a pop-up window with the name, type, focus, location and a link to the company’s website.

[NOTE: the map shows a single entry for the company headquarters regardless how many branches, subsidiaries and factory locations that company might have, consequently international companies with factories and service centers in China won’t appear. Further note that The Robot Report’s database doesn’t contain companies that just use robots; it focuses on those involved in making robots.]

The Filter pull-down menu lets you choose any one of the seven major categories:

1. Industrial robot makers
2. Service robots used by corporations and governments
3. Service robots for personal and private use
4. Integrators
5. Robotics-related start-up companies
6. Universities and research labs with special emphasis on robotics
7. Ancillary businesses providing engineering, software, components, sensors and other products and services to the industry.

In the chart below, 500 Chinese companies are tabulated by their business type and area of focus. Please note that your help would be greatly appreciated by adding to the map and making it as accurate and up-to-date as possible. Please send robotics-related companies that we have missed (or are new) to info@therobotreport.com.

Source: CBS Evening News

By investing $6 million in robots, Bicycle Corporation of America (BCA) was able to take back 10% of their manufacturing from China and place it into a new factory in Manning, South Carolina employing 140 new workers.

BCA has been an American business since 1905 but has manufactured most of its bicycles offshore in China. Recently, as wages have risen in China, robotic technology has improved, and as the costs of owning and operating robots have decreased, the economics are beginning to make sense when there are processes that can be effectively performed by robots.

In BCA’s case, their investment in robots that insert spoke wires onto bike wheels have obviated the need for 100 additional workers who would otherwise be needed. As a result, it makes economic sense for BCA to manufacture in the U.S. BCA bought an abandoned factory Manning, SC and created 140 jobs — a lifeline in this distressed industrial town. But the only way to make it work was investing in robots.

“We’re creating jobs with the automation and being able to be price-competitive with China now and it will get even better in the future,” said Arnold Kamler, BCA owner.

Thus, for BCA and the City and people of Manning, SC, robots are creating jobs –140 of them.

An emerging need

China’s once abundant labor force has contributed to the country’s astonishing economic success in recent decades. But in the coming decades, the percentage of retirees relative to workers is likely to increase substantially. According the People’s Daily, by 2050 China’s senior citizen population (over 60s) will grow to more than 30% of the total population, up from about 12% today. To meet the growing healthcare needs of the increasingly aging population, a number of medical robotics firms in China were recently founded and are starting to bring their products to the market.

According to a report by GCiS in 2016, the Chinese medical robots market is valued at RMB 791million, up 34.4% from 2015. By 2021, the medical robot sector is projected to grow to at least RMB 2.2billion. From surgical to rehabilitation and homecare, robots look set to transform parts of the nation’s healthcare industry. Robots will reshape secondary care, tertiary care, even primary, home and community care. Already, surgical robots are assisting the nation’s surgeons in some high-end hospitals, and accomplishing more precise, less invasive procedures. And the sales of rehabilitation robots have boomed as hospitals improve their rehabilitation units (in keeping with government policy). But the medical robots industry in China is still emerging, with many domestic players still in the product development and clinical testing stage.

Figure 1: Market (2016 – 2021) Projections – Medical Robots – Chart. Source: GCiS, China’s Robotics Market (2016).

Distinct applications

Medical robots are used by Chinese hospitals and healthcare providers in a variety of specialized fields such as surgery, rehabilitation and drug delivery.

Surgery: In operating theaters, robotic systems are used in both soft and hard tissue surgeries. These robots, while not yet autonomous, greatly enhance the capabilities of surgeons, allowing the surgery to be done with greater precision, using smaller incisions resulting in less blood loss and quicker healing time. They also enable remote surgeries.

da Vinci Si System with single-site instrumentation ©2016, Intuitive Surgical, Inc.

Rehabilitation: Rehabilitation robots assist in therapeutic training and assessing the sensorimotor performance of the patient. Therapy based robots are used to increase the efficacy of the therapist’s work given that exact measurements are now possible through sensor technology. This will allow the therapist to better gauge the improvements or decline of a patient’s progress, saving time in the process.

Drug delivery: In terms of drug delivery, IV robots are used to automatically prepare IV syringes and bags, minimizing pharmacy errors. IV robots can also help reduce employee exposure to hazardous materials (e.g. chemotherapy) and enhance safety.

HOSPI, the pharmaceutical, drug delivery robot. Image: Panasonic

Overall, applications of medical robots across all 3 areas are on the rise. Specifically, rehabilitation is likely to experience significant growth over the next 5 years. This is due to both social and policy driven factors; emphasis on building physical therapy units in China’s community hospitals; and expanding medical insurance to cover rehabilitative care, etc. On the other hand, for surgical robots, demand is likely to come mainly from the niche group of wealthier Chinese patients who can afford the pricey procedures. This is because robotic surgery is not only costly, but is not covered by insurance. Even though the launch of domestic versions of surgical robots could bring down the price somewhat, it is still unlikely that the use of surgical robots will become widespread in the next 3-5 years.

Up and Coming Chinese Firms

While there are a small number of foreign suppliers in this market, including global leaders such as Intuitive Surgery, their products are often too pricey for any but the wealthiest Chinese hospitals to afford. An Intuitive Da Vinci System, for example, costs over USD 3million. In other cases, such as with many rehabilitation robots, the offerings of domestic suppliers are considered comparable to foreign products, and at a lower price. Several leading international firms are yet to enter this market or dedicate serious resources, and local firms are expected to be especially competitive in this market.

According to GCiS’ research, there are fewer than 20 active manufacturers of medical robots in China currently. But there are, at minimum, half a dozen emerging companies still at the product development or clinical testing stage, and many with a clinically tested products pending China’s Food and Drug Administration’s (CFDA) approval. I have identified 5 of these firms that deserve particular attention:

Chongqing Jinshan Science and Technology (金山科技(集团)有限公司) is a private Chinese company founded in 1998, with manufacturing capabilities in a range of gastrointestinal medical devices. Based in Chongqing, the company is traditionally a manufacturer of capsule endoscopes. Capsule endoscopes are pill sized cameras that records images of the digestive tract, particularly in hard to reach areas like the small intestines. In 2004, Chongqing Jinshan launched its first capsule endoscope product and, later in 2008, the capsule received US FDA approval and the CE mark.

In recent years, the company has started various R&D projects, developing medical robots including the OMOM minimally invasive surgical robot system which will go into clinical testing stage soon. They have also made the OMOM capsule robot, which is an enhanced version of the previous capsule endoscope. Unlike its previous model, this new capsule robot is said to have the potential to achieve active propulsion. This would mean that doctors can now control the motion and direction of the capsule, to enable better views of the affected areas and greatly improve diagnostic capabilities. Apart from motion control, the capsule will also come with silicon micro pumps (for drug delivery and simple biopsy) technology. These new functions will be built on existing capabilities like MEMS, and imported technologies like IBM’s DB2 database server.

Beijing Tinavi (北京天智航医疗科技股份有限公司) is a company listed on China’s National Equities Exchange Quotation (NEEQ). Backed by China’s Ministry of Science, the Beijing Government and the Chinese Academy of Science, Tinavi is a manufacturer of robotic guided systems designed for orthopedic surgeries. In 2010, it was the first Chinese company to be awarded the CFDA permit to manufacture its first generation orthopedic robot. Tinavi’s orthopedic robots have been installed in more than 10 Chinese hospitals, and have completed around 2000 surgeries since 2010. Tinavi’s GD-2000 model is now selling at RMB 5.4 Mn. According to GCiS, the company is growing at a rate of 150%. Its newest medical robot, Phecda (designed for minimally invasive spinal surgeries) is still pending CFDA’s approval in 2016.

TiJi orthopedic surgery robot. Image: Tinavi

Beijing Bohuiweikang Technology (北京柏惠维康科技有限公司) was founded in August 2010 by Professor Liu Da to commercialize the Remebot system. Remebot is a stereotactic neurosurgery robot system comprising of a six axis robotic arms, and a CT/MRI compatible visual imaging system which will enable surgeons to perform more accurate and less invasive neurosurgical procedures. Remebot was developed by Professor Wang Tianmiao and his team at Beihang University in 1998. Even though Remebot completed its clinical testing and the first telesurgery in early 2000s, the technology did not reach the commercialization stage earlier due to a lack of funding and disputed IP issues. In 2015, CFDA received its application for a manufacturing permit to allow the company to manufacture and issue the 6^th generation Remebot system, which is estimated to be completed by end 2016 or early 2017.

Midea-Yaskawa (广东美的安川服务机器人有限公司), is a joint venture company by Midea (one of China’s leading appliance companies) and Yaskawa (Japanese industrial robot company). In August 2015, these two companies announced that they will be setting up a joint venture in China to produce a range of nursing care and rehabilitation robots for the domestic market. In March 2016, this joint venture was officially set up in Guangdong Shunde. This JV will oversee the product development, manufacturing and sales of Midea/Yaskawa’s robots in China. In the initial stages, it is likely that this company will front the sale of Yaskawa’s existing product lines like the LR2 Lower Limb Physical Therapy robot launched by Yaskawa earlier in 2014. Other possible products could also include Yaskawa’s Rewalk exoskeleton suit and ankle walking assistive device. Depending on the approval of China’s FDA, some reports estimate that these products might be available sometime in 2017.

Lower limb rehabilitation robot.Image: Yasakawa.

With Midea’s strong distribution and sales networks in China, it would not be surprising to see such rehabilitation robots in the consumer markets soon. Midea’s move into the rehabilitation robots industry may signal the impending growth in homecare robots, like robotic prosthesis and home telepresence robots for the growing elderly population.

Shenzhen Sanggu (深圳市桑谷医疗机器人有限公司) is a subsidiary of the Chinese company Silver Star Group. Founded in 2003, Sanggu develops and supplies intravenous infusion monitoring systems and intravenous robots. Its IV robots were launched in China in mid 2016 and, within just 6 months, around 50 units were sold. Sanggu’s IV robots are used by pharmacy nurses in the preparation of medication meant for intravenous infusion, including the medication for oncology and chemotherapy. With such IV robots, medical staff no longer have to be exposed to the dangerous concoction of chemotherapy medications. They can now operate this IV robot system remotely and work outcomes can be completed with better efficiency and less wastage. The company is now rapidly ramping up its plant capacity to deal with the growing demand.

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A recent article in The Washington Post by Morgan Stanley strategist and author of “The Rise and Fall of Nations” Ruchir Sharma, provides a nuanced overview of the issues of jobs, robots, productivity and income disparity. 

In the article, Sharma suggests that because the labor pool isn’t growing fast enough to support our needs, it may not be long before economists worry about a global shortage of robots to fill those needs.

“In many industrial countries, from Germany to Japan to South Korea, growth in the working-age population has already peaked, acting as a drag on the economy. Widely overlooked, however, is the fact that the population-growth slowdown is unfolding even faster in the emerging world.”

China, the most prominent of those emerging countries, is already feeling the effects of four disruptive population trends:

1. China’s working-age population growth just turned negative and China is expected to lose 1 million workers each year for the foreseeable future.
2. Of those coming of working age, because of education and other social reasons, they don’t want to work in factories.
3. China’s elderly share of the population is rising twice as fast as in the U.S. and four times faster than in France. Unlike France and the U.S.
4. Given the widespread political backlash against immigration, compensatory immigrant increases to offset ageing workforces are unlikely.

Sharma cited an instance where Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel prize-winning psychologist/economist who wrote “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” a 2011 best seller, had occassion to comment on the subject:

“Asked by an alarmed dinner companion about the threat robots posed to jobs in China, Nobel economist Daniel Kahneman responded: “You just don’t get it. In China, the robots are going to come just in time.” No wonder Beijing now offers heavy subsidies to companies involved in industrial automation.”

Strategic long-view planning such as that exhibited by the Chinese series of 5-year plans focused on bringing robotics to China, creating an in-country robotics industry, and expanding the use of robots to provide social assistance in addition to industrial production, is being replicated in Japan, Korea and throughout the EU.

It remains to be seen how this will play out in the U.S.

If you enjoyed this article about robots and jobs, you may also want to read:

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Source: YouTube

In October, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission released a report, China’s Industrial and Military Robotics Development, prepared by the Defense Group, Inc. at the Commission’s request. The report examines the development of China’s unmanned industrial, service, and military robotics systems, such as drones and driverless cars, and the economic and national security implications of these trends for the United States.

China’s rising demand for high-end robotic components and service robots as well as U.S.-China bilateral artificial intelligence research present potential markets and collaboration opportunities for the United States. But the inherently dual-use functions of industrial and service robotics strengthen China’s commercial and military production and robotic capabilities, potentially improving China’s defense industry and eroding U.S. military advantages. In addition, the application of artificial intelligence can enhance the learning capabilities and the military effectiveness of unmanned systems such as drones, which may undermine U.S. technological and military advantages.

Overall, the report advocates that the U.S. government:

1. implement the recommendations of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership 2.0 Steering Committee Report and expand the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation;
2. monitor and account for Chinese advances in unmanned systems and electronic countermeasures;
3. conduct an interagency review with economic, scientific, and regional experts to assess U.S.-China cooperation and bilateral investments in artificial intelligence;
4. increase awareness among federal agencies, defense contractors, and research universities that Chinese research institutes actively collect their published materials, designs, specifications, and graphics;
5. fully implement the Cybersecurity National Action Plan;
6. use China’s state plans, procurement practices, defense plans, and other Chinese language materials to identify technologies that the PRC is seeking to acquire;
7. consider requirements to more thoroughly vet foreign participants for military or other undisclosed defense affiliations in academic exchanges and research in emerging technologies; and
8. monitor and, when necessary, investigate China’s growing foreign investments in robotics and artificial intelligence companies.

The report was authored by Jonathan Ray, Katie Atha, Edward Francis, Caleb Dependahl, Dr. James Mulvenon, Daniel Alderman, and Leigh Ann Ragland-Luce.

The report can be viewed here.

Source: Times of Isreal

A consortium of Chinese companies, municipalities and investors — including Siasun, the largest robotics firm in China and the city of Guangzhou — have inked a deal to set up a $20 million R&D center in Israel dedicated to developing robot technology that China can use to modernize and automate its industrial base.

The investment follows the September establishment of a Sino-Israeli Robotics Institute (SIRI) as the centerpiece of a new $2 billion industrial park in Guangzhou.

The new Israeli R&D center will develop technology and robots worked on by Chinese and Israeli researchers in Israel. Products developed will be mass produced in China. In addition to industrial robots, the institute will develop robot “servants” – waiters, cleaners, security guards and customer service agents, and robotic assistants for construction sites, where finding manpower to do heavy work is becoming difficult.

The IFR (International Federation of Robotics) estimates that by 2018, one-third of all the industrial robots installed worldwide will be in China and said, “China is engaged on a historically unprecedented effort to catch up in the race towards automation. The latest figures show that sales of industrial robots jumped to around 57,000 units in 2014 – a rise of 56%.”

The Chinese government’s offensive to make this happen — outlined in a 2014 plan China Manufacturing 2025 (also called “Made in China 2025 Initiative”) — provides governmental stimulation for both (1) the use of robots and (2) the manufacture of robots. Modernizing production methods and the use of robots is an explicit part of the plan. Reducing dependency on foreign companies and the in-country manufacture of robots is also part of the plan. The plan is part of a larger 30-year macro plan to transform China from being a “big industrial country” to a “powerful industrial country.” This process is ongoing even as China’s economy slows.

“Among this new manufacture, Robotics is playing a very important role. That is – while in recent years the other sectors were increasingly slowing down – the robotics industry is going up fast”, says Song Xiaogang, Secretary General of the China Robot Industry Alliance (CRIA).  “In light of the above, the robotics industry is exhibiting rapid growth – completely unperturbed by the current economic fallow period experienced by other areas of Chinese industry”.

Hand-wringing and writing about China has become a growth media focal point. The fact is that China is poised to emerge as a global technological heavyweight in the not-too-distant future. Their government is pushing to improve the quality of manufactured goods and the lives of factory workers, AND they are also pushing toward in-country control of their manufacturing industry. At present, although Chinese robotics companies are receiving generous government support, they are still struggling with low volumes and high dependency on off-shore purchases of key components.

TRENDS IN CHINESE ROBOTICS FOR 2016

To get a better view on what 2016 will bring, a brief review of the three biggest Chinese robotics trade shows is in order, along with a look at Japan’s massive iREX show.

CIROS, Shanghai, July – 50,000+ visitors. One observer said that at the 2013 show there were 6 Chinese robot makers, a number that doubled to 14 in 2014. At this year’s CIROS there were 25 — quite an indicator that China’s “Made in China” initiative is working. Earlier this year The Robot Report mapped that growth by plotting 194 new Chinese companies involved in the making of robots.

World Robot Conference, Beijing, November. Going by the photos from this show, the biggest hits were soccer playing robots, ping pong players, restaurant servers, noodle makers and bell ringing music makers. Going by the exhibitors list, “Jiqiren” (machine people) were the biggest hit, with 93 exhibits. Not all exhibitors were companies making or involved in the making of robots; many were non-Chinese providers albeit with a Chinese presence. Two of the Big Four of robotics were there (Yaskawa and ABB) along with Foxconn and Panasonic. Service and collaborative bots predominated, and they represented both offshore and high-tech in-country companies such as Ninebot and RooBo.

IAS, Shanghai, November – 135,000+ visitors. According to one friend who attended, a large percentage of this show’s attendees were not buyers, but families and visitors coming to see the robots. Many of the exhibitors showcased the entertainment aspect over the technology and business benefits. Most of the media from the event showed human-looking robots, dancing robots, robots carrying food, ping pong playing robots, robots ringing bells and robots drawing pictures. Nevertheless, from behind that noisy facade, offshore and Chinese vendors showed heavy duty robots for the auto industry and assembly robots for smartphone and electronics components manufacturing. There was no doubt that the auto industry and smartphone makers were the buyers that the exhibitors wanted to talk with.

iREX, Tokyo, November – 121,000+ visitors. iREX, like the Chinese shows, was split between the two aspects of robotics: industrial work horses and service robots for professional or consumer use. iREX was overwhelmingly focused on the industrial, with three quarters of the exhibitors being involved in industrial robotics. A huge Industrial Robot Zone featured factory-ready arms that were all about speed and precision, whether for constructing a car or a bento box, a heavy duty application, or for working side by side with humans. On the opposite side was the Service Robot Zone, showcasing machines doing a wide variety of tasks, ranging from plucking tomatoes to cleaning underwater pipe systems. But similar to the Chinese shows, the booths drawing the biggest crowds highlighted “emotional” robots — a type of bot whose primary goal is to relate to people rather than be productive. Fittingly, one of the first sights seen while entering the exhibition floor was a gaggle of Pepper robots showing off their ability to detect feelings, much to the delight of visitors.

BOTTOM LINE:

1. China’s auto industry is hungry for robots. The IFR cited 21,106 robots were purchased in 2014 for that purpose, 49% more than in 2013. Shipments for 2015 are expected to increase 23% to 26,000. China can’t export their autos until they improve quality, and exporting cars is a major goal of the “Made in China 2025” plan.
2. China’s electronics industry, including the makers of smartphones and tablets, are also gobbling up robots at an amazing pace. Foxconn, which makes their own Foxbots, now has 50,000 at work at Foxconn factories in China and intends to increase that number significantly as fast as they can. Hence the focus at all the shows — in China and elsewhere — on robots that can safely work in tight-fitting assembly lines alongside human workers.
3. The public is hungry for consumer bots and for the entertainment aspect of robotics. Over 180,000 ECOVACS robotic vacuum cleaners sold on Singles Day in China last month (up from 70,000 in 2014).

These three drivers — plus rising wages, chronic turnover, dangerous working conditions, the shrinking labor pool, and jobs that are unappealing to the working-age younger generation –are all reasons why China is investing in robots both as a user and as a maker.

China is truly emerging as a global technological heavyweight, and, in the not-too-distant future is very likely to fulfill their plan to transform China from being a “big industrial country” to a “powerful industrial country.”

[CAVEAT: For the time being, most of the figures reported in this article, and in the media, are hard to come by and cannot be taken as fact. In addition to language being a problem, the new CRIA being overly optimistic in their statements, governmental incentives and businesses promising to deliver, and the propensity of the media to reprint press releases, much of what one reads is way too full of hope. Nevertheless, sifting through that data and eliminating as much hype as possible, one can only get an impression — as one gets from observing where the crowds go at trade shows — and make WAGs (wild-assed guesses) tempered by personal experiences. This article is an effort in that direction.]

Source: Bloomberg

On Singles Day 2015, a holiday for the Chinese singles and youth market, Ecovacs Robotics sold $47 million worth of robotic products. Ecovacs only has three robotic products: a line of vacuum cleaners, a window cleaner, and a security and air purification device.

Ecovacs Robotic’s Deebot robotic vacuum cleaners sell for between $180 and $500 in China; their robotic window cleaner sells for $350; and their Famibot mobile wifi and air purification robot is only available for pre-order. Dividing $47 million by $250 (which presumes that most of the Singles Day sales were vacuums) equals 188,000 robotic units sold on a single day! Much of those sales were sold online on Alibaba. Ecovacs is taking orders for their Famibot, the security, wifi and air purification mobile bot with no specific delivery date mentioned. Deebots and Winbots are available for immediate delivery online with Amazon and Ecovacs Robotics.

The phenomenon of Singles Day was originally created by some college students in China as a special holiday to celebrate people who were not in a relationship – people who were essentially single. November 11, or 11/11, was chosen for the annual holiday, because no other date on the calendar has as many 1’s, or “singles”. Alibaba has trademarked the Chinese double 11 symbol in their effort to make Singles’ Day (11/11, November 11th) an international online shopping event. From Ecovacs point of view, they’ve certainly succeeded!

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. ​reported $14.3 billion in sales during China’s Singles’ Day. The results, posted by the Chinese e-commerce giant in the early morning hours on Thursday local time, were 54% higher than last year’s Singles’ Day and were better than many analysts had expected.

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China is the world’s largest consumer market of industrial robots for the second consecutive year, according to statistics released by the China Robot Industry Alliance (CRIA). Sales in China increased by 54.6% in 2014 to around 57,000 units, 25% of the global total. Data shows that nearly 17,000 units were made in China with a value of $474m, an increase of 60% from 2013.

Various research reports are predicting that more than 250,000 industrial pick and place, painting and welding robots will be purchased and deployed in China by 2019. That figure represents more than the total global sales of all types of industrial robots in 2014! The Chinese government is encouraging the development of an in-country robotics industry because, currently, three-quarters of all robots purchased are from off-shore companies (albeit some with manufacturing and assembly facilities in China).

We have been able to identify 47 Chinese companies and five startups that call themselves industrial robot makers, and another 26 which offer to provide integration services and speciality equipment. 34 more provide ancillary services, sensors and components to the robot makers. Overall, 107 Chinese companies are involved in industrial robotics. Many of these new industrial robot makers are producing products that, because of quality, safety and design regulations, will only be acceptable to the Chinese market.

In addition to growth in Chinese industrial robotics, progress in the service sector is also healthy. A shining example of the 48 mostly new service robotic companies on the map is Shenzhen DJI Innovations, of quadcopter fame. DJI is projected to sell devices worth $1bn in 2015.

Two other notable growth areas in the service sector are materials handling and the production of unmanned air, sea and ground devices for China’s developing space, military and defense industries.

The consumer sector is also growing: robotic vacuums and personal/social robots are examples. Last “Singles Day,” a brand new shopping holiday in China, Alibaba sold over 70,000 Ecovacs robotic vacuum cleaners!

The drivers propelling this boom are many and varied:

• Government mandates and political encouragement to develop the industry domestically and, ultimately, to export products
• Low-cost loans and factory incentives
• Tax credits for robot users and also to robot makers that employ local workers
• Engineering talent spewing out from Chinese technical universities and research facilities
• Rising wages
• A diminishing factory-age work force
• A rapidly aging work force, hampered by the one-child policy of past regimes
• The high cost of training and housing for a short-term transient work force
• Ramping up of auto makers to satisfy domestic demand and to improve quality and produce Chinese cars for export — for China to have competitive cars in the international marketplace (not just price-competitive), they have to improve quality, consistency and technology — and robotics is enabling them to do so
• Serious investment in automation and robotics from companies, such as Foxconn and Apple, that manufacture their goods in China
• A growing middle and upper class with disposible income for high-tech devices

The Robot Report and the research team at Robo-STOX have been able to identify 194 companies that make or are directly involved in making robots in China. The CRIA and other sources, believe the number to be closer to 400.

The Robot Report’s Global Map is limited by our own research capabilities, language translation limitations, and scarcity of information about robotics companies and their websites and contact people. We could use your help in adding to the map. Please send companies that we have missed (or are new) to info@therobotreport.com.

You can explore the map online and filter it in a variety of ways. Use Google’s directional and +/- markers on the left of the map to navigate, enlarge, and hone in on an area of interest (or double click near where you want to enlarge). Click on one of the colored markers to get a pop-up window with the name, type, focus, location and a link to the company’s website.

[Note: the map shows a single entry for the company headquarters regardless how many branches, subsidiaries and factory locations that company might have.]

The Filter pull-down menu lets you choose any one of the seven major categories: (1) Industrial robot makers; (2) Service robots used by corporations and governments; (3) Service robots for personal and private use; (4) Integrators; (5) Robotic start-up companies; (6) Universities and research labs with special emphasis on robotics; and (7) Ancillary businesses providing engineering, software, components, sensors and other services to the industry.

As can be seen from the map at the top of the page, most all of the companies and educational facilities are located on the East Coast or in Central China; very few are located in the Northeast or in Western China.

The research firms forecasting dramatic growth for the domestic Chinese robotics industry are also predicting very low-cost devices. Their reports are contradicted by academics, roboticists and others who point out that there are so many new robot manufacturing companies in China that none will be able to manufacture thousands of robots per year and thus benefit from scale. Further, many of the components that comprise a robot are intricate and costly, e.g., reduction gears from Nabtesco, Harmonic Drive and Sumitomo (all Japanese companies). Although a few of the startups are attempting to make reduction gears and other similar devices, the lack of these component manufacturers in China may put a cap on how low costs can go and on how much can be done in-country for the time being. Another negative is that all but auto manufacturers have short product cycles requiring any robots on the line to be extremely flexible. Worker flexibility is still crucial in Chinese manufacturing.

In the chart below, the 194 Chinese companies are tabulated by their business type and area of focus.

Again, we request your help adding to the map and making it as accurate and up-to-date as possible. Please send robotics-related companies that we have missed (or new ones) to info@therobotreport.com.

The long-term rivalry between China and Japan, often characterised as the “World’s Most Dangerous Rivalry,” was exacerbated at the CIROS show held in Shanghai last week by a bowing Prime Minister Abe look-alike robot and an enterprising Chinese sales group.

The robot, dressed in a suit and bowing to visitors, according to the International Business Times, “came to be called ‘Apologizing Abe’, and photos and videos of the Abe look-alike robot have gone viral across social media in China. The ‘Apologizing Abe’ robot is being seen by many in China as a mocking reference to Abe’s refusal to issue a formal apology for Japan’s wartime atrocities during World War II, as the Japanese Prime Minister only expressed ‘deep remorse’ earlier this year.”

“It’s just a way to attract attention from visitors and with absolutely no political implication,” Wang Guofeng, sales agent for the reported manufacturer of the robot, Shanghai Jinghong Robot Co Ltd, told China’s Global Times. The company is selling the robot on its website for 39,000 yuan ($6,282), according to the report.

The CIROS show had over 100 exhibitors and a large crowd of business people, educators and consultants interested in finding out about how robots might help them in their shops, plants and factories. A report on the show, by people who attended, walked the floors, and talked with the exhibitors, will appear soon on The Robot Report.

Xi Jinping, China’s President, last year called for an “industrial robot revolution.” Since then China has created policies giving value added tax refunds and subsidies to companies making robots, and robot user companies can qualify for tax breaks.

The Financial Times reported that analysts are forecasting the payback period for industrial robots with a 10 yr life cycle is 1.7 yrs in 2015, down from 11.8 yrs in 2008  and will likely shorten again to 1.3 years in 2016.

The prospect of being able to pay off the cost of a robot in slightly more than a year, Goldman Sachs says, has brought industrial automation to within the reach of China’s millions of small and medium-sized manufacturers, creating the conditions for a productivity surge.

These two factors (the mandate to use robots and the lower payback metrics) combined with “shrinkage in China’s working age population and the numbers of workers available for production line work” are likely to propel the continued deployment of robots in China and contribute to the huge surge in robot sales in China (as can be seen in the FT chart) and International Federation of Robotics (IFR) statistical data. Further contributing to China’s labor shortage is an elevation in levels of education attainment in young working age adults, causing them to seek non-factory work.

Two recent research reports by ResearchinChina and Huidian Research attest to China’s growing need for robotics across the manufacturing spectrum, from the auto industry to craft breweries. These reports, and others, forecast that by 2017, more industrial robots will be operating in China’s production plants than in the EU or North America. It is expected that global industrial robot sales will grow from 200,000 in 2014 to 400,000 by 2017!

At next week’s big CIROS Show in Shanghai, on July 7th, a joint IFR-CRIA (Chinese Robotics Industry Alliance) roundtable discussion on Innovation on Robot Applications, will also provide a forum where the IFR will present their preliminary industrial robotics recap for the year 2014, which will confirm the radical growth in China’s robot population.  The IFR’s annual World Robotics Industrial Robots report for 2015 covering 2014 results will be released this fall and is a worthwhile purchase.

In other news, a recent message to shareholders, Foxconn’s chairman said that he plans to reduce Foxconn’s pressing need to recruit, hire and train up to 30% of their 1.3 million workforce by replacing dull, dirty, ergonomically stressful, and dangerous tasks with robots within the next few years. Displaced workers will be retrained for higher-level jobs.

ECOPPIA

Ecoppia, a 2013 Israeli startup, is providing a robotic solar panel cleaning system to power companies with solar farms in the desert. Ecoppia recently installed and retrofitted five solar panel sites totaling more than 35MW. Their systems are cleaning about 5 million dusty panels every month.

“Desert regions are prime candidates for solar PV (photovoltaic) farms, aside from one glaring issue: soiling. Reports indicate this phenomenon can reduce overall energy generation by as much as 40 percent, which significantly eats into a system owner’s return on investment,” said Eran Meller, CEO of Ecoppia. “Three of the systems are located in the Arava desert, a region that suffers from frequent dust storms, with few rainy days to naturally wash the debris away. Prior to the Ecoppia installation, each system was cleaned manually, requiring tens of millions of liters of water and costly manpower resources. Ecoppia’s robotic, water-free cleaning solution performs daily cleaning to remove 99 percent of dust on each panel and ensure a higher output from each plant. Supported by real-time and forecasted data from The Weather Channel, the systems can be programmed with a customized cleaning schedule for optimal results.”

INSIGHT ROBOTICS

Hong Kong-based start-up and IBM SmartCamp Entrepreneur of the Year 2015 award winner Insight Robotics, uses an automated system that combines a high-precision, pan-tilt robot with thermal imaging sensors and advanced artificial intelligence vision technology to detect and protect forests. Insight systems are recording a 100% detection rate in multiple field trials and deployments. Their systems can detect and locate wood- or vegetation-based fires as small as 6′ by 3′ in size within a 3 mile radius, covering up to nearly 30 sq mi of forest and living area. The system then sends real-time images and the location of the fire to control centers for analysis. Armed with real-time image feeds, precise coordinates, microclimate data and alerts sent directly to any device, frontline centers can quickly respond with efficient firefighting plans much earlier than other methods, including smoke detection.

Insight’s early-warning system has been implemented in more than 10 forestry and local government agencies in five provinces and seven cities across the mainland and the company has set a $15 million marketing goal for 2015.

International Fire Fighter Magazine said, “The Insight Robotics Wildfire Detection System is the leading solution for long distance 24-hour wildfire detection. It is the first in the world to spot a heat source as small as a single 2m x 1m tree within a 5 km radius.”

Photo: Faungg via wikimedia commons.

April has seen Chinese VCs acquiring robotic ventures, buying out competitors, seeking funding to scale up production, and shoring up industry gaps.

Look at these four transactions:

1. Beijing-based Ninebot, a Segway competitor, acquired Segway;
2. Chinese venture fund Cybernaut plans to invest $200 million into Russia’s Skolkovo Center to incubate Russian inventions manufactured and marketed in China;
3. China South Rail paid $190 million to acquire SMD, a UK deep-sea robot manufacturer;
4. and Chinese drone maker DJI is forecasting global 2015 sales of $1 billion and a market value of $10 billion as it seeks funds to scale up it’s operations.

Ninebot acquires Segway

Ninebot, a Beijing-based 2012 startup, markets their device as a personal transportation robot. Segway has sued and accused Ninebot of patent infringement but all that is now water under the bridge because Ninebot acquired (for an undisclosed amount) all the intellectual property as well as the company and facilities of Segway. Although the two companies will retain their brand identities and separate locations, the transaction was an acquisition nonetheless and all Segway’s IP are now owned by Ninebot.

Bedford, NH-based Segway’s press release calls the transaction a “Strategic Combination”; Ninebot’s website calls it an acquisition. Included in Ninebot’s announcement of the acquisition was notice that Ninebot had raised $80 million from Xiaomi, Shunwei and Sequoia VCs.

Segway was launched in 2001 by Dean Kamen’s group. It struggeled to live up to all the ballyhoo from its launch when it was called the “future of transportation.” In 2009 Segway was purchased by British entrepreneur Jimi Heselden who was killed in 2010 while riding a Segway off a cliff. It was then bought by Saint Louis, MO-based Summit Strategic Investments in 2013 and it was that firm that did the deal with Ninebot. Certainly the real prize is Segway’s 400+ patents related to personal transportation devices being transferred over to Ninebot.

According to TechCrunch, “Ninebot plans to use the purchase to expand its product line. Founder and CEO Gao Lufeng said ‘After establishing the alliance, the company will apply a series of technologies into its future products, covering electric driving, mobile internet, and man-machine interaction. This combination creates great opportunities for the development of the short-distance transportation industry.'”

Commenting on the transaction, Robots Dreams blogger Lem Fugitt said, “While Segway management is positioning the take-over as positively as they can, in the long term it appears to be a major loss for U.S. technology, intellectual property, and manufacturing. The most telling comment from Segway’s president Rod Keller, as reported in the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper, was, ‘If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.’”

Cybernaut to invest $200 million into Skolkovo robotics startups

The Skolkovo Foundation outside Moscow, a large campus being constructed to focus on transferring Russian science into tangible products and to incubate Russian startups to make that happen, has signed a strategic partnership with Cybernaut Investment Group for Cybernaut to invest $200 million with Skolkovo in IT, space, telecommunication and robotic products that can be manufactured and marketed in China.

Hangzhou-based investment firm Cybernaut Investment Group will also create a new Chinese robotics center in Hangzhou to supplement Skolkovo’s efforts. Cybernaut is one of China’s largest VCs.

An in-depth review of the Skolkovo Cybernaut deal can be found at here.

China South Rail acquires SMD for $190 million

SMD, a UK based provider of underwater ROVs and ROV systems, tractors and trenchers for laying cable, sub-sea mining and oil and gas operations, was sold to Zhuzhou CSR Times Electric, a subsidiary of China South Rail (CSR), a state-owned conglomerate, for $190 million.

According to the Want China Times, the acquisition is expected to help China obtain core deep-sea robotic technology and equipment, andl will also help CSR absorb the mature industry platform and global sales network of SMD, supporting it to enter the global deep-sea market. This will complement CSR’s existing businesses in offshore wind energy, shipyard, marine engineering and drilling and help the Chinese company build an industrial chain for marine equipment.

A recent article in The Economist analyzed and charted the number of Chinese mergers and acquisition transactions in the EU.

Chinese deals in Europe as a whole rose from $2 billion in 2010 to $18 billion in 2014. Europe is attractive because it has lots of businesses going cheap — privatizations, cash-strapped firms and a weak euro. Chinese firms are following an edict to acquire advanced technology and high-quality brands from abroad that the government laid down in its five-year plan of 2011. Until recently most outbound dealmaking was by state firms buying up raw materials. Now high value-added businesses are the main target, and private capital is flowing.

SZ DJI Innovations seeks scale-up funding

SZ DJI Innovations expects their revenue to exceed $1 billion this year. That information is part of the material being shown to raise funds for the company. The Wall Street Journal reported that DJI has set a valuation as high as $10 billion and that several Silicon Valley VC firms have offered to invest. The Shenzhen company has sold hundreds of thousands of their drones to hobbyists, journalists, photographers, real estate agents and other business people worldwide. According to the WSJ, DJI has taken minimal outside capital and instead has used cash flow to fund its rapid expansion which recently was reported to include three factories and 2,800 employees.

One quote by Chris Dixon of VC Andreessen Horowitz is particularly interesting:

Companies like DJI right now have good momentum, but they’re hardware makers… Next year or the year after that, you’re going to see hundreds of DJI clones. I don’t think long term that’s a good bet. Software is going to eat drones.

I disagree. I see a parallel to the robotics industry of today where a few big firms make the basic industrial robot arms but thousands of independent global consultants, distributors, integrators and engineers add value through software and add-on devices just as mapping, data mining, sensor manufacturers and aerial service providers are beginning to do today for the drone industry.

• Video describes accelerating robot deployment in China
• Sino-Russian robotics boosted as Skolkovo signs $200M deal with Chinese investment fund
• Cars in the UK, China, LA, CES and here : Robocar news update
• Foxconn begins selling noodle-making robot
• 40% annual growth forecast for Chinese robotics

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

In response to rising labor costs combined with a shortage of workers, China has begun to provide incentives to encourage businesses to utilize robots to replace factory workers.

In a video interview for The NY Times, Peng Zhang, Vice Director of the Economy, for Shunde (a city of 2.4 million) in Guandong Province, China, says that he is administering a project to replace humans with robots. Zhang said that the half of Shunde’s population comprised of immigrant workers from other Chinese provinces cannot continue to grow. He cited the following reasons for his actions:

• China’s one-child rules halved the birthrate from 1987 to 2003, consequently China has a continually shrinking supply of workers in the 18-24 age range, the prime age for factory workers.
• Labor shortage is further compounded because potential workers are staying in local schools and universities much longer and, according to the NY Times article, “following a Confucian tradition that the educated do not soil their hands with manual labor, graduates overwhelmingly refuse to accept factory work, except in supervisory, design or engineering positions.”
• Electronics manufacturing is still moving factories to China because most of the parts suppliers are already there; consequently there is much demand for factory work.
• Prospective migrant workers born in the ’80s and ’90s “are inferior to the older generations,” says Zhang in the video. “Their lack of endurance and hard-working spirits” make them less desirable.

Bottom line: As a response to the changing landscape of the labor market, i.e., to compensate for higher wages and harder to find and train labor, several cities and provinces have encouraged robotics be employed in the factories in their districts. Many of Guandong Province’s local authorities, such as those in Shunde, have announced that they are offering various incentive plans to  upgrade and adopt robotics into local manufacturers’ factories. Mr. Zhang says in the video that his goal is to reduce Shunde’s workforce by half by using robots and sending the low-skilled migrant workers replaced by the robots back to their home towns.

As one of Skolkovo’s resident companies, ExoAtlet – which builds medical exoskeletons – stands to benefit from the new agreement. ExoAtlet’s team hopes to create an exoskeleton that will cost as little as $10K.

Russia’s Skolkovo Foundation and the Chinese Cybernaut Investment Group signed an agreement yesterday in Beijing to create a joint Russian-Chinese business incubator, a robotics accelerator program, and an investment fund worth $200M. 

The partnership aims to bridge the two countries, with the business incubator supporting at least 15 companies resident at the Skolkovo Innovation Center, and a robotics center located in China that will help accelerate the Skolkovo residents into the Chinese market. The $200M venture fund, provided by Cybernaut, will invest in Skolkovo residents that are conducting research into IT and robotics, space, energy-efficiency technologies and new materials.

The agreement comes into force in the third quarter of 2015 and Skolkovo Senior VP for Innovations Vasily Belov estimates that as much as $50M will be funnelled into Skolkovo companies before the end of the year, but says that it’s too early to say how much of this will go into robotics ventures specifically.

Founded in 2005, Cybernaut is one of China’s largest venture capital and private equity firms, currently managing more than $500M in US funds, and more than ¥50B in RMB. According to Cybernaut Project Manager Xiang Li, the fund “will incubate and help 3-5 companies be listed in China or foreign capital market” each year. Based in Hangzhou, a city known for its manufacturing capabilities in hi-tech sectors such as electronics and medical engineering, the fund typically invests in domestic companies, and is interested in personal service and industrial robotics in China “because China has a huge domestic demands for robotics”. The fund recently created a platform company called their “Cybernaut robotic group” that aims to develop and upgrade the Chinese robotic market: “We are trying to acquire related robotic companies to develop our product line,” said Li.

The Skolkovo deal, which has been in negotiations since 2013, is Cybernaut’s first Russian venture. “The collaboration with Skolkovo is very important for Cybernaut,” said Li. “We are providing the conditions for close collaboration between Russian and Chinese scientists, developers and entrepreneurs, which will allow us to develop and market cutting-edge technology together.”

According to Skolkovo’s Chief Roboticist Albert Yefimov, Cybernaut is now actively negotiating deals in Russia. In an email interview, Skolkovo’s Executive Director of the IT cluster Igor Bogachev said that Cybernaut is “focused on investing in wide range of service robotics, ranging from robotics for mining industry to educational robotics.”

The agreement brings benefits to both parties.

Russia will gain from the influx of cash, as well as access to China’s manufacturing pipelines and marketplace. According to Bogachev, Skolkovo resident companies “will have a chance to continue their development in the Chinese branch of the robotics center in order to get easier access to the local market … like searching for an investor, or locating production lines [and] access to buyers.”

And China stands to gain, too. According to a report in the Chinese-language Economic Observer, and summarized in Want China Times, despite the 36 industrial parks developed for the robotics sector in recent years, “some companies that claim to be creating robots do not have labs, research teams, or the ability to conduct tests.” From that article:

“In China, 50% of the robot makers produce pirated products. They either reverse engineer existing products of foreign companies or buy old robot designs to manufacture as their own,” said QKM Technology president Shi Jinbo.

It would appear that Cybernaut aims to reverse this trend by importing Russian research and technical expertise.

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

• Skolkovo conference seeks to jumpstart new areas of expertise for Russian robotics
• Robots Podcast: Russian robotics
• 25 Russian companies added to The Robot Report’s global map of robot providers
• Russia looks inward and outward at Moscow’s 2013 Open Innovations Forum

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

The Fu Jiang robot slices dough into long, thin noodles that are ready to be cooked.

Early in 2014 Foxconn invested $25 million in Fu Jiang Robot Technology, a Shenzhen robot maker which had a dough-slicing device that was beginning to sell.

According to the Want China Times, Foxconn is offering that robot – now called Fu Jiang – to the restaurant industry initially working in concert with a company that runs a chain of restaurants utilizing those robots.

The resulting robot slices dough into long thin noodles ready to be cooked. The Fu Jiang robot automatically cleans its blades and has higher specs than when initially offered.

“From now on, the robot industry will maintain an annual growth rate of 40% for a long period of time,” he said. “China has already overtaken Japan as the world’s largest consumer of robots, buying more than one-fifth of the world’s robot output.”

The rapid growth has encouraged Chinese companies to enter the market of making robots. By the end of October, China had more than 430 companies manufacturing components, vision and motion systems, sensors, or complete robots of one type or another said Song. An average of two new companies joins the sector every week according to The Star, an Indonesian newspaper and website.

“Apart from robotic workers in manufacturing industries, which account for most robot applications in China, there is a growing demand for self-driving cars, delivery drones and even robot journalists by 2030,” said Song.

In order to offset rising labor costs and a shortage of skilled workers – major problems plaguing China – robots are beginning to be deployed for many different uses, mostly in industrial settings, but as the photo of the restaurant robots above shows, in service roles as well. The photo is of a newly opened restaurant in Cixi which has introduced two server robots which help deliver food, collect empty dishes as well as offer menu selections.

According to the All-China Women’s Federation, the recent flurry of restaurants using robots for waiters, busing tables, noodle cutting, and food preparation, threatens jobs held by women.

This, of course, is not just a Chinese phenomena. In October, Oxford University published a study of the application of robotics in the US labor force. It found that it is possible that as much as 47% of the current labor force could be replaced with robots over the next two decades.

Following the International Federation of Robotics’ (IFR) announcement earlier this year that 2013 set an all-time robotics record, the North American Robotics Industries Association announced that 2nd quarter robot sales were the best ever, and the 1st and 2nd quarters combined have set a new record.

Since 2010 the robotics market in North America has grown an average of 26% per year leading up to its record setting first half performance in 2014. A record 14,135 robots, valued at $788 million were ordered from North American robotics companies in the first half of 2014, an increase of 30% in units and 16% in revenue over the same period in 2013. The second quarter of 2014 was the main driver of the market’s record first half, with 8,197 robots valued at $450 million sold to North American customers. This performance shattered the previous record for a single quarter, exceeding the fourth quarter of 2012 by 31% in units and 17% in revenue.

This is not an American phenomena, although it does reflect that the American economy is continuing to advance at a healthy pace.

ChinaDaily reports that Chinese companies are expected to triple their purchases to around 110,000 robots per year by 2020.

“As the world’s second-largest economy, China has huge potential in the robot market, which is prompting more foreign and domestic companies to invest in the sector,” said Wang Ruixiang, head of the China Machinery Industry Federation.

 

According to a recent United Nations report, China is likely to see a sharp fall in its labor force by 2015. The labor shortage and the lack of advanced technologies represent huge business opportunities for the robotics sector, said Song Xiaogang, secretary-general of the China Robot Industry Alliance.

Good news for robotics worldwide!

CIROS, the China International Robot Show held last week in Shanghai had record crowds, record numbers of exhibitors, 168,000 sq ft of exhibition space, and exuded confidence in a thriving up-and-coming Chinese robotics industry.

Many global robot makers took part in the show including Comau, Staubli, Yaskawa and Kawasaki, but domestic companies such as Shanghai STEP, Chaint Robotics and Jasic — and their new China Robot Industry Alliance (CRIA) — were present as well.

CRIA held a presentation about progress in the domestic manufacture of robots including this chart showing that almost 60% of them are involved in non-automotive tasks, particularly handling operations.

The exhibition portion of CIROS was mostly showing industrial robotics for the Chinese auto and electronics industries, although the exhibitors list was well rounded and there were some crowd-pleasing toy robots.

The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) and CRIA hosted an Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Robotics and Automation Roundtable that was well attended, and there were two days of conference presentations including countries (Germany, Japan, Korea and Taiwan) offering cooperative alliances, and seminars on how to secure government investment.

All photos and onsite reporting by Jason Lee, a 25-year robotics veteran and co-founder of integrator firm Shanghai Hi-Robot.

In a crowded back room at AUTOMATICA 2014 in Munich, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) sponsored a panel of prominent robot users explaining their needs to a panel of executives representing all the prominent robot manufacturers.

The panel was moderated by Ken Fouhy of VDI Nachrichten, a German newspaper and web portal for technology news in the EU. The two robot users were Stefan Baginski representing BMW and Dr. Chia Day from Foxconn; the robot executives were Manfred Gundel from KUKA, Olaf Kramm from Fanuc, Stefan Lampa from ABB, Manfred Stern from Yaskawa and Jiegao Wang, from Estun Robotics.

The dialogue was spirited, direct, and kept on point by the moderator. It was particularly informative on three topics:

• Foxconn’s Dr. Day explained his company’s “million robot deployment” in context.
• BMW’s Baginski described situations that could add significant numbers to BMW’s robot population.
• The newly formed Chinese Robot Industry Alliance (CRIA) had a booth at AUTOMATICA and an executive from a Chinese robot manufacturer was on the user/maker panel, confirming that China is now the largest buyer of robots and their government is stimulating an in-country robotics industry.

FOXCONN AND THE MILLION ROBOTS

Dr. Day, VP and GM of Foxconn’s Shenzhen facilities, described in careful detail where robots are needed in their factories, what tasks they need to do, what hurdles there are, and, to some extent, what they are doing in-house. Their most immediate need is in core tasks associated with electronics assembly such as machining, polishing, painting, laser welding, die casting, palletizing and inspections. Automated assembly will come later he said. He described the major difference between an auto company and a consumer product manufacturer: the length of time production “lines” stay in play; car company lines often last for 7 years while most electronic production lines change yearly or more often. Hence the need for flexibility in deployment, cost efficiency, and ease of programming and re-programming.

Dr Day said that Foxconn has grown to 1.2 million workers and the logistics, turnover and ancillary problems and activities involved with that massive workforce had prompted Foxconn’s Chairman Terry Gou to say that Foxconn would deploy 1 million robots to help reduce and control the numbers, manage the problems better while increasing quality, and eliminate the dull, dirty and dangerous tasks that contributed to labor problems in the past.

He suggested that the media was more interested in the few instances of labor troubles than in the amazing technologies, capabilities and components the company provided and offered; that the media often incorrectly reported non-stories. For example, the flurry of stories about Google and Foxconn having an “agreement to cooperate” was unknown to him. He read more about it in the press than he heard about it from within Foxconn.

When queried about the fact that Foxconn has a line of robots that it manufactures, he explained that Foxbots were for internal use only and for material handling, for tool and die making, and for integrating from more costly purchased systems. They decided to make Foxbots solely for economic reasons. He also said that right now Foxconn utilized about 50,000 “traditional” robots, had an additional 50,000 automation devices that might be called robots, and about 500,000 not-robotic but intelligent automation devices mostly of its own creation. “Surprisingly forthright comments from a very interesting proponent of automated manufacturing,” said moderator Ken Fouhy.

BMW MAY INCREASE THEIR ROBOT POPULATION IF…

BMW’s Stefan Baginski talked about BMW’s experimenting with collaborative robots, particularly the ones from Universal Robots, for assembly and other tasks not previously robotized but that are ergonomically challenging for their employees. Thus far the human-robot interaction at their Spartanburg plant in South Carolina, and resulting productivity enhancement, has been successful and, if it continues, Baginski can foresee increasing BMW’s present robot population of 7,500 by a third to 10,000 within the next 3 years.

All the robot makers talked of co-robots and the issues involved but few had actual products for sale such as the ones from Universal Robots, particularly at Universal’s low price point ($30,000).

One fascinating question was whether the makers used human-robot-interaction robotics in their own manufacturing process. They all use robots to make robots. ABB said that they used their 2-armed FRIDA robot internally but for experimental purposes only; Olaf Kramm from Fanuc said:

“We have three times more robots in our production than humans. That’s the difference – we are able to provide high-quality sophisticated robots beyond automotive and general industry for the same price level that the others do when they produce in China,”

CHINA, CRIA AND CHINA-MADE ROBOTS

China has become the largest buyer of robotics buying one in five robots sold in 2013, a total of 36,560, according to the IFR. Rising wages, government stimulus, and growing competition from other emerging economies have been the drivers and 60% of the demand has come from the auto industry. There’s lots of room for this growth to continue: China had just 23 robots for every 10,000 people employed in manufacturing compared with 396 in Korea, 332 in Japan and 273 in Germany. Their brochure showing members of CRIA (China Robot Industry Alliance) was a hot take-away from their booth at AUTOMATICA.

Wang Jiegao, from China’s Estun Robotics, said:

“Labour costs are rising [in China] so there are a large number of enterprises that need automation. The challenge is to do that for small and medium-sized enterprises . . . as they have limited money for investment.”

HUMAN-ROBOT COLLABORATION

Hence the reason why robot manufacturers all over the world are focused on making their newer robots easier to program, operate, maintain, and that they be able to collaborate with humans. This slide from the presentation describes it well:

Research and Markets, an online market research store, is offering a new $3,000 report, Global and Chinese Automotive Industrial Robotics Industry Report 2013-2014, with figures that differ sharply from the data provided by the International Federation of Robotics.

Excerpts from the Research and Markets report:

• Global industrial robotics market valued around $11.1 billion in 2012 but slumped by 17% to $9.25 billion in 2013.
• In 2013, global shipment of industrial robotics rose by 2%.
• Japan’s industrial robotics shipments fell by 7.3%.
• The average selling price of robots in Japan dropped from $47,200 in 2012 to $45,200 in 2013.
• The global industrial robotics market is expected to increase by 3.5% to $9.6 billion in 2014.
• Welding robots account for 50% of all sales.
• 50% of China’s demand for robots is for the auto industry and related parts.
• Globally 36% of demand is for the auto industry.

Excerpts from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) report:

• Industrial robotics sales in 2012 were $8.7 billion.
• Those figures do not include the cost of software, peripherals and systems engineering.
• If included, it would bring the value to be approximately three times as high, or $26 billion.
• No information is presently available for 2013, however, the IFR estimated that sales will increase about 2% in units for 2013.
• From 2014 to 2016, robot installations are estimated to increase by 6% on average per year (CAGR): about 4% in the Americas and in Europe, and about 8% in Asia/Australia.
• In China, the huge amount of robot investments between 2006 and 2012 resulted in a substantial increase in the robot density of the automotive industry: up from 51 to 213 robots per 10,000 employees.
• Potential for robot installations in the non-automotive industries is still tremendous, but it is also considerably high in the automotive industry among the emerging markets and in some traditional markets as well. This is mostly due to the modernization and retooling needed in these markets.

Yutu is a 6-wheeled rover. It has 4 cameras and 2 digging arms for sampling of lunar soil and dust, and can travel at 1/8 of a mile per hour. During it’s 3-month exploration, it will search for natural resources and rare elements such as titanium and uranium.

The Sunday Times (UK) said: “China conducts about 18 launches a year and sent its first astronaut into orbit in 2003. In its most recent manned space mission in June, three astronauts spent 15 days in orbit and docked with a space laboratory. Their mission was part of Beijing’s quest to open a permanent space station in Earth’s orbit within the next decade.”

On the non-military/space frontier, China’s 12th 5-Year Plan targeted robotics as a growth industry necessary for China’s development. It expects a compound growth rate of 25%, said Wang Weiming, deputy director of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The ministry has set up incentives and 5 geographical areas for Chinese companies to develop (and improve the quality of) their robot products and capabilities. The ambitious plan includes a goal of 30% to be produced with homegrown technologies, Wang said. In addition to Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu, authorities in Liaoning province are constructing a robot industrial complex in which they expect revenues of $8 billion for robots and other automation equipment by 2017.

A quick look at all the ongoing research projects at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Shenyang Institute of Automation shows their interest in space, search and rescue, 3D bio-printing, eldercare robots and a variety of other up-and-coming robotic endeavours.

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With the rapid economic development of the last twenty years resulting in the accumulation of great wealth, China urgently feels the need to move from a manufacturing-driven economy to an innovation-driven one. As a result, China is supporting many bold research initiatives in an effort to develop and attract the highly skilled individuals who will be needed to lead this transition. Thanks to recent dramatic developments in hardware and software, economists anticipate that the Chinese robotics industry will meet its spring season this year.

Every five years, the central government of China releases a new Five Year Plan, which establishes the core concept of development in all areas of Chinese society. In 2011, China started its 12^th Five Year Plan, and for the first time ever, the service robot was ambitiously identified as an important area for development. As such, it is anticipated that many new Chinese robotics companies will emerge in the near future to meet the growth targets set out in the plan.

However, due to the economic crisis, the situation is changing subtly. I traveled around several main cities in China in early 2013 to learn from experts in the current automation industry, and it was apparent that because the new generation of Chinese workers asks for higher pay and lower workloads, it is very difficult for China’s massive manufacturing industry to recruit new workers. Not surprisingly, leading foreign industrial robot companies, such as Kuka, ABB, and Fanuc are taking advantage of this problem to actively market their robots to the manufacturing sector.

Local companies are likewise developing Chinese industrial robots that may have relatively low performance, but which are nonetheless able to meet industrial requirements. One such example is the Million Robots Project from the Chinese electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn. Yet, while the industrial robot market is growing, service robots still remain the province university labs and research institutes.

Funding high risk research in China
In China, almost all high-risk, high-reward research is conducted by central government agencies: the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the Ministry of Education (ME), the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST), and the Organization Department of CPC Central Committee (ODCCC).

NSFC aims to support outstanding young researchers through the awarding of modest grants from the Young Scientists Fund. This is the most popular funding mechanism for young researchers when they first begin conducting independent research as it is relatively easy to apply for and receive. The Ministry of Education manages several projects, such as the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (for new teachers), and the Chang Jiang Scholars Program (CJSP), which is supported by the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET). For example, the CJSP tends to recruit top young and mid-career researchers both in and out of China to work as academic leaders, and awards sizeable grants to them.

The Ministry of Science and Technology manages several projects that are significant to researchers engaged in high risk, high reward research, including the National Basic Research Program of China (973) and the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863). The influence of 973 and 863 on Chinese scientific research is far-reaching, and only top-tier professors with excellent teams are considered for funding by this elite program. Because research funded by these projects is carried out by large groups of people, 973 and 863 usually give out significant funds, in the order of millions of dollars depends on the scale of the project.

The ODCCC funds high-risk research initiatives through the Thousand Talent Project (TTP), a three-year term project with possible extension. The goal of the TTP is to recruit thousand of foreigner researchers with strong expertise in hardware and software to help develop innovation in China. There are already more than 100 foreigner researchers working in China since 2008, the year TTP started, including Prof. Toshio Fukuda, a former IEEE RAS president, director of the IEEE Division X, who was invited to Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) to work on Micro-nano research.

Where the money goes
It can be difficult for people outside of China’s borders to learn about the projects these granting programs support because, due in part to language barriers and visa restrictions, Chinese researchers tend to participate in domestic conferences rather than international ones.

Yet while robotics researchers from around the world keenly watch videos of Boston Dynamic’s Bigdog walking freely on uneven and slippery mountain roads, or Honda’s Asimo dancing and hopping on one foot, the Chinese government is also busy establishing similar projects in a more low key fashion (see this PlasticPals YouTube playlist for a fair sample of what the whole must be).

Having visited Chinese laboratories and spoken face-to-face with researchers, I have witnessed several bold Chinese robotics initiatives that are currently underway. One particularly challenging area of development is the humanoid robot, and two of the best robotics laboratories for this in China are at the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) and Zhejiang University (ZHU), both of which have succeeded in producing the first humanoid robots that can perform Tai Chi and play Ping-Pong (see here and here). These robots were not specifically designed for game play – they were in fact developed as part of China’s domestic service robots initiative – but Tai Chi and Ping-Pong have helped researchers to test their robots’ image processing and dexterity.

I visited BIT’s robotics lab this past April, and saw their BHR-4 and BHR-5 humanoids in action. Using cameras couple with high-speed image trajectory processing software, a pair of BIT’s BHR-5 Humanoid can rally at Ping-Pong up to 200 times without error. The BHR-5s stand 162 cm (5’4″) tall, weigh 63 kg (139 lbs), and have 32 degrees of freedom. With its realistic animatronic face, BIT’s BHR-4 Humanoid, on the other hand, is more focused on conveying a variety of emotions that on speed and gross-motor dexterity. It reminds me of Prof. Ishiguro from Osaka University, Japan, who is the world leading robotics researcher in building humanoid robots with lifelike appearance and visible behaviour. The BHR-4 stands 170 cm (5’7″) tall, weighs 65 kg (143 lbs), and thanks to all the moving parts in its face, has an incredible 43 degrees of freedom.

China is also pursing its own version of BigDog. In 2011, the 863 program established another 3-year project with funding up to $700US million that aims to build a Biomimetic Quadruped Robot like Boston Dynamic’s BigDog. Almost all the important robotics labs in Chinese universities are competing for this funding. The Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), Sheenyang Institute of Automation Chinese Academy of Science (SIA-CAS), Shan Dong University (SDU), and other universities and institutes each released their version of BigDog one after another.

These homegrown initiatives may not yet have the performance capabilities of their better-known counterparts, but the Chinese are well on their way to catching up to the world leaders in robotics research.

With contributions by Hallie Siegel.

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Credit: Walkera

Mind-controlled quadrotor drone

Mind controlled drones are a hot area for researchers at Zhejiang University in Hangzou, China, who have adapted a Parrot AR Drone 2.0 to be operated by an Emotiv EPOC electroencephalogram (EEG) headset hooked up to a PC running custom software. By thinking “left” strongly, the mind-pilot can make the drone take off; thinking “left,” “right,” and “push,” makes it turn clockwise, move forward, and fly up, respectively. More interestingly, clenching teeth makes the drone descend, while blinking commands it to take a photo. Check out the video below for a demo flight.