The World Robot Conference 2023 will be held from August 16 to 22 in Beijing, showing the latest achievements in China’s robotic industry, according to a press conference yesterday.
The annual event is organized by the Municipal Government of Beijing, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and China Association for Science and Technology.
Altogether 149 robotic companies will display some 600 products in an exhibition area of 45,000 sqm, which is 5,000 sqm more than last year.
This year’s agenda will focus on breakthroughs in core technological innovations and expansion of application scenarios, with the event divided into three parts, including forum, exhibition and competition.
In line with the “robot+” action plan issued early this year, the exhibition halls this time will be arranged in the order of the 10 uses cases listed in the plan, as opposed to mingling them under one roof.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released on January 18 an action plan entitled “robot+” in collaboration with 16 other ministry- and commission-level departments, aimed at encouraging the adoption of robotics in 10 major scenarios and promoting the development of the industry.
The scenarios span manufacturing, agriculture, business and community service, healthcare, emergency response and so on.
Specifically, the exhibition halls will house robots with functions ranging from welding and sanding to mowing and irrigation, from delivery, concierge and cleaning to surgery, rehabilitation and senior care, Chen Ying, vice chairman and secretary-general of Chinese Institute of Electronics, said at the conference.
China’s robotic industry has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years, with increasing maturity and adoption of technologies in a range of industries.
Promoting the smart development of the sector is not just a crucial part of a modern industrial system but an accelerator of modernization in various industries as well, Wang Hong told reporters yesterday. Wang is a deputy director of the Division of Equipment Industry at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
China’s industrial robot installations accounted for more than half of the world’s total of 531,000 last year, ranking first for nine consecutive years, according to International Federation of Robotics.
Last year alone, China’s overall robotic industry posted revenue in excess of 170 billion yuan (US$23.66 billion), with an industrial robot output of 443,000 units and service robot production totaling 6.45 billion units.
The sector’s momentum continued well into the first half of this year. The country produced 222,000 industrial robots, up 5.4% year on year, and 3.53 million service robots, an increase of 9.6% over a year earlier.
