China has emerged as the largest cobot market across the globe, with sales volume accounting for more than 40% of the world’s total, a recent study says.
According to Askci (中商产业研究院), a market intelligence provider, which compiled this report, the country’s cobot market will surpass 3 billion yuan (US$431 million) in 2023, up 12% from about 2.70 billion yuan last year.
In recent years, due to the cost benefits brought about by flexible manufacturing, the application scenarios of cobots are becoming increasingly extensive.
Its market expansion has appreciably outstripped that of industrial robot, says the report.
The report also points out that owing to a boom-and-bust cycle of the global economy and a wider array of use cases for cobots, this sector is poised to experience sustained growth.
Mirroring this trend is a development plan for the robot industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).
Issued by 15 ministries and ministry-level commissions, the document states that by 2025, the robot density of China’s manufacturing industry will double, averaging 500 industrial robots per 10,000 employees.
This ratio is measured by dividing the industrial robotic installations with the number of people employed in industry.
The Askci report forecasts that there is huge room for cobot adoption to pick up in China.
Cobots have increasingly become a favorite of industrial businesses thanks to its safety, agility, ease of use as well as relatively low comprehensive costs and convenience of deployment.
These attributes make it an addition in areas where industrial robotics leave to be desired.
For instance, in 3C industries product iterations come fast, which requires that production lines be switched with a high frequency.
Instead of completely overhauling the lines at high expenses, which is necessary in the case of industrial robots, cobots can get the job done with flexibility and efficiency.
With a stronger emphasis on flexible manufacturing, safe human-machine collaboration, cost reduction and quality control, the penetration of cobots in industrial equipment market is set to advance, says the report.
