Chinese robotics industry needs to wean itself off government subsidies and innovate to catch up with foreign peers, says expert

The Chinese government sees the use of robots as a way to upgrade the nation’s manufacturing industry, with a goal of producing 100,000 locally made industrial robots annually by 2020, equal to a robot density of 150 for every 10,000 employees.

To reach that goal, the government has been financially supporting the domestic robotic industry for the past five years, with the subsidies accounting for 20 per cent of the industry’s net profit in China, according to Sinolink Securities.

Dai Zhendong, director at the Institute of Bio-inspired Structure and Surface Engineering and a robotics professor at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, spoke to the Post about the state of the industry in light of the trade war tensions.

In 2018 China ranked 20th in the world in robot density. What does the current development of China’s robotic industry look like?

Although many robotic companies are able to produce various kinds of robots, the reliability and the quality of core components need further improvement. For example, microchips used in robots depend on imports from overseas. Once trade conflict occurs, like the situation ZTE faced [in 2018], the robotic industry will face serious pressure.

Hardware may not be a problem since its production is huge in China, but the application of core components, like mechanical sensing and algorithms for the control system, are lagging behind foreign peers which account for one third of the Chinese market for industrial robots.