China's soaring commercial service robot industry leads global market

Chinese robotics firms are significantly increasing their global footprint, with Made-in-China intelligent service robots now being deployed worldwide in food delivery, manufacturing, healthcare, and smart homes.

Leading the global market in commercial service robots with a 23 percent market share is the Pudu Robotics, which saw its 100,000th robot roll off the production line on Tuesday. At its production base in Shenzhen City, a major tech hub in south China, the company prepares robots for international shipment.

Pudu's cat-shaped food-delivery robot has entered more than 60 countries and regions and gained a strong overseas customer base.

"For example, this batch of robots are ready to be transported from our finished-goods warehouse to customers in Japan and Europe. They're now being shipped to a port in Shanghai," said Guo Cong, CTO of Pudu Robotics.

In the first quarter of this year, the company's export orders surged by 300 percent year on year. Guo attributed the growth to rapid product iteration driven by customer-focused research and development.

"Our overseas markets account for 80 to 90 percent of our revenue, with Europe, Japan and South Korea being the largest. We drive product iterations with technology to meet diverse industry needs, creating a virtuous cycle of technology, products and sales. Additionally, we're customer-centric, identifying unique demands in target markets, which in turn spurs us to explore new technology. This approach helps us go global quickly and enhances our competitiveness," he said.

The evolution of robots is accelerating. Recently, Pudu released a service robot that is equipped with robotic arms and a dexterous hand that is capable of performing complex actions like pressing elevator buttons and serving dishes.

"It took four years for our first robot to go from design to mass production. Now, it takes around six months. This progress is due to better technology, improved manufacturing quality and faster production processes. The localization rate of the upstream supply chain has exceeded 95 percent, and we now hold over 1,600 patents," said the executive.

According to a white paper by Deloitte China and Pudu Robotics, the global service robot market is set to hit 195 billion U.S. dollars by 2035.

China's soaring commercial service robot industry leads global market

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday condemned U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iranian civil facilities including schools and hospitals as unjustifiable under international law and humanitarian principles.

Iran does not seek war and instability and always insists on dialogue and constructive engagement with other countries, Pezeshkian said in a meeting with a group of medical staff in Tehran.

Pezeshkian condemned the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, saying Iran had committed no crime.

"When they [the United States and Iran] attack schools, and maternity wards in hospitals, they don't respect any humanitarian principles. It's shameful and the world needs to see this. They claim we are terrorists, but they are the real terrorists who massacre anyone, anywhere, anytime they want. Now they stand on the stage and talk about human rights. It's shameful," he said.

Pezeshkian stated that the unity and cohesion of the Iranian people had thwarted enemy plots. He also praised the professionalism shown by the Iranian Red Crescent Society during the war.

The 40-day U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, starting Feb 28, killed Iran's then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with senior military commanders and more than 3,000 civilians. Iran responded with waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and U.S. assets in the Middle East.

A two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States took effect on April 8. Lengthy talks between Iranian and U.S. delegations were later held in Pakistan's Islamabad, but failed to produce an agreement.

Attacks targeting civil facilities unjustifiable under international law: Iranian president