Rising demand for industrial robots drives China's leadership in innovation

The growing demand for industrial robots has been a key driver of technological innovation in China, positioning the country at the forefront of robot design and development.

In 2024, China maintained its position as the world's largest industrial robot market for the 11th consecutive year, accounting for over half of global new robot deployments, according to the World Robotics Association.

In China's capital Beijing, numerous robot technology companies have developed robotic arms with a variety of functions.

Aubo, a Beijing-based robot maker, has designed robotic arms capable of making coffee, performing massages, painting, and playing chess.

Andy Mok, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, believes that form follows function in the robotics industry.

According to Mok, humanoid robots are unlikely to become the dominant form, but there will still be a place for them alongside robots with four legs or wheels. In the future, people will encounter robots in a variety of forms," he said.

"You mentioned robotic arms. In many manufacturing settings, it really is about moving an object from one point to another or doing some work on it, whether that's carving it, polishing it, whatever. And there the ideal form would be an arm, versus a humanoid form factor with not only two arms but also two legs and a head," said Mok.

The robots named “D2,” indoor delivery robots with the letter “D” in their name referring to “delivery,” have been deployed in hotels across Beijing to provide services to consumers.

"D2 is very useful for us. Because we have a lot of requests from guests for 'Kuaidi' [referring to express deliveries], 'Waimai' [referring to takeaway foods], medicine, or they need an extra toothbrush, slippers, so this really helps us to be very efficient. The guests are quite enjoying to interact with the robot as well," said Aymeric Le Boucher, general manager of the Renaissance Beijing Haidian Hotel.

A study by Frost and Sullivan, a consulting firm specializing in industry transformation and growth opportunities, projects that the global service robot market will expand from three billion yuan (approximately 410.99 million U.S. dollars) in 2024 to 10 billion yuan (around 1.36 billion U.S. dollars) by 2030, achieving an annual growth rate of 20 percent.

Another robot maker, Mech Mind, has developed robotic arms capable of playing mahjong, a traditional Chinese table game, with humans.

The machine uses a camera to scan the game field, calculates the odds with artificial intelligence (AI), and places the tiles on the table.

Mech Mind has deployed over 10,000 AI-powered cameras across more than 50 economies, including Germany and Japan.

Shao Tianlan, founder and CEO of Mech Mind, believes that robotics holds significant potential for improvement.

When discussing the ultimate direction of robot development, Shao said: 'It will be like in the movie Wall-E: robots of every form. But I think many of them can share common brain and eyes. No matter whether the robot has one arm, two arms, two legs, or no leg, its eyes and brain—many things are in common. So I think that can be standardized somehow.”

Rising demand for industrial robots drives China's leadership in innovation

The sixth China-Russia Media Forum, which was held in Beijing on Tuesday, discussed promoting friendship between and supporting development of the two countries through media cooperation.

Li Shulei, who is a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, attended the forum and delivered a keynote speech.

Attendees said that under the strategic guidance of heads of the two countries, China-Russia relations have maintained stable, healthy and high-level development, creating a model for a new type of international relations and relations between neighboring major countries.

In May this year, the heads of state of the two countries signed and issued a joint statement on further deepening the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era, explicitly proposing deepened cooperation in the media sector between the two countries.

The media sectors of China and Russia should fully implement the important consensus reached between the heads of state, adhere consistently to the general direction of the China-Russia friendship, and foster a positive public opinion atmosphere for the common development of China and Russia, attendees said.

They also said that the media of the two countries should focus on major issues such as the alignment of China's 15th Five-Year Plan with Russia's economic and social development strategies, and report in depth on achievements of mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields.

They noted that the media should build bridges of people-to-people connectivity, promote exchange and mutual learning between the Chinese and Russian civilizations, join hands to address the challenges of digital and intelligent transformation, and work together to enhance the influence of the media.

The forum was hosted by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee and the Russian Presidential Executive Office, and organized by China's Xinhua News Agency and Russia's TASS News Agency.

Approximately 140 officials and media representatives from both countries attended the forum. During the event, the two sides signed 11 documents on deepening media cooperation between China and Russia.

6th China-Russia Media Forum eyes supporting development of both countries