Chinese Ministry Launches Five-Year Plan To Become Global Robotics Hub

China has proposed a five-year strategy to help it achieve its goal of becoming a worldwide robotics innovation centre by 2025. It intends to achieve this by concentrating on improvements to essential components such as servomotors and control panels.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated this week that operating income from the country's robotics industry is expected to expand by an average of 20 per cent between 2021 and 2025, according to the five-year strategy.

Deng Xiaobai, co-founder and CEO of Dorabot, a Chinese AI-powered robotic solutions provider for logistics and other industries, found this plan exciting and she told China Daily, "The Covid-19 pandemic has driven changes in the logistics industry, which includes the acceleration of innovation, automation and digitalisation in the workplace. We are optimistic about future development."

As reported, China's robotics sector increased rapidly between 2016 and 2020, with an average annual growth rate of around 15 per cent. According to data from the ministry, China's robotics sector's operating income exceeded 100 billion yuan ($15.7 billion) for the first time in 2020. It was also stated that China's manufacturing robot density was 246 units per 10,000 people last year, about double the global average. The indicator is used to assess a country's automation level.

China was looking to double this figure by 2025, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Wang Weiming was quoted in the report. He said that breakthroughs in key robot components such as speed reducers, servomotors, and controllers, which are viewed as the basic building blocks of automated machines, will be pursued with a concerted effort.

"The goal is that by 2025, the performance and reliability of these homegrown key components can reach the level of advanced foreign products," Wang added.

The Chinese government anticipates that high-end advanced robots would be used in a wider range of industries, including automobiles, aerospace, railways, logistics and mining.

It was reported that according to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's cumulative output of industrial robots exceeded 330,000 units in the first 11 months of 2021, representing a 49 per cent increase year over year.

Last year, the global manufacturing robot density was 126 robots per 10,000 employees, according to the 2021 World Robot Report. In 2015, this value was 66 units.

South Korea, Singapore, and Japan were the top three most automated countries in Asia-Pacific, with 932 units per 10,000 employees, 605 units, and 390 units, respectively. Germany was fourth, while Sweden got fifth place.

Japan is the world's leading manufacturer of industrial robots, accounting for 45 per cent of worldwide robot supply. Last year, the country's output capacity was 174,000 units.