Commercial service robot to reach $17 billion in the world by 2020

The "China Robot Industry Development Report” was just issued by the robot industry research of China Institute of Electronics on August 30th, 2017.

According to the report, at present, the Chinese robot market has entered a period of rapid growth. In 2017, the domestic robot market is expected to reach $ 6.28 billion, and the average growth rate during 2012-2017 is 28%. Among them, industrial robots make up 4.22 billion US dollars, intelligent service robots make up 1.32 billion US dollars, and the other are special robots, around 740 million US dollars.

Among them, the Chinese home service robot, medical service robot and public service robot respectively present 530 million US dollars, 410 million US dollars and 380 million US dollars; home service robot market growth is relatively leading.

By 2020, the rapid development of emerging robots applied in new scenarios such as parking robots and retail service robots used in supermarkets or shopping malls will make the market size exceed $ 2.9 billion.

Behind the growth of China's service robot industry, the core is the increase in aging population which causes the increases of human costs. In addition, policy and capital support, the development of artificial intelligence technology has also boosted the growth of the service robot market.

With the acceleration of population aging, the huge manpower demand in pension, medical, education and other aspects creates the rapid expansion of intelligent service robot, especially the care robot for elderly. As of the end of 2016, China's population aged over 60 has reached 230 million, accounting for 16.7% of the total population.

At present, China's intelligence level of service robot has been rapidly improved, shoulder to shoulder with the first international echelon. The report pointed out that China's number of patent applications in the field of artificial intelligence and the United States are in the same order of magnitude, especially the increase in computer vision, intelligent voice applications and other application. This gave birth to a number of innovative start-ups. At the same time, China has made some progress in innovative AI robotics such as multi-model human-computer interaction technology, bionic materials and structure, modular self-reconfiguration technology and so on.

China's service robot industry has not yet shape stably. Facing a good market development opportunities, high-frequency demand intelligent service robots become the main investment direction. In recent years, some enterprises that use robots go into robot industry by performing independent research and development, investment and acquisition and other means. And through the comprehensive application of artificial intelligence technology to build intelligent service robots, a great number of innovative entrepreneurial enterprises Dji, Ecovacs, Sanbot service robot, i robots and other enterprises have been recognized by the market.

China seeks to lead the automatic manufacturing and intelligent service

China's manufacturing industry revolution is at the full speed as more and more industries introduce robots to upgrade the manufacturing speed and quality and customer experience.

"Industrial robots will witness a 'golden period of development' in the next 20 to 30 years in China with the transformation and upgrading of Chinese manufacturing," Luo Jun, CEO of the International Robotics and Intelligent Equipment Industry Alliance, an industry think tank, told the Global Times, a hot daily Chinese newspaper.

Meanwhile, intelligent service robots that can be used as domestic assistants and in hospitals, hotels and nursing homes are becoming increasingly known to the public. Government initiatives to improve the quality of China's industries, such as "Made in China 2025," have sought to support the country's robot industry.

Sun Ying, deputy president of the Zhejiang Robot Association and head of a robotics firm in Hangzhou, told the Global Times that her company's sales revenue reached 200 million yuan ($29 million) last year, up from just 600,000 yuan in 2012 when the company was established. Sun's company mainly provides industrial robots for the detection of flaws and measurements to the logistics, automobile and optical communication sectors. 

"Most of our robots were sold to factories in southern China in the past, but starting this year, our market has expanded to European countries including Russia, the Czech Republic and Finland following China's Belt and Road initiative," Sun said. Meanwhile, the company is also eyeing the service robot industry, establishing a new branch last year to develop advanced medical robotics for nursing homes, according to Sun.

The National Manufacturing Strategy Advisory Committee, a national advisory organ, said it predicts that more than 150,000 industrial robots will be sold in China by 2020, with more than 800,000 in service by then. The committee added that the sector will be worth tens of billions of yuan and will be globally competitive, thepaper.cn reported.

China has struggled to keep pace with Western countries in developing and researching programmable autonomous robots, and the techniques behind core components of industrial robots, such as electrical machinery and controllers, are monopolized by Japan and Germany, according to Luo. 

To encourage Chinese scientists to develop robotic technology, China has allocated 600 million yuan for 42 robotics programs this year, the Ministry of Science and Technology said in August. Luo suggested the government step up efforts to develop next generation advanced AI robots which use artificial intelligence in order to narrow the gap with Western developed countries.