China Claims to Take Big Lead in Robotics

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Jan 11, 11:24PM EST · Published May 19, 8:05AM EDT

China Claims to Take Big Lead in Robotics — © Thinkstock

China has taken a substantial lead in robotics, although the opinion comes from the Chinese themselves. While the claim may be true, it is certainly self-serving.

The race for the lead in robotics had several countries claiming large advances. The same holds true for some universities and private research organizations. All in all, since robotics is not a single industry, one group could be ahead in a small part of the business but well behind in others.

There is a second debate at the center of the robotics race. That is whether robots will trigger the unemployment of tens, if not hundreds, of millions of people worldwide, or whether robots will become assistants to people that help them do their jobs — even menial ones that do not require education or training. The jury will not be able to settle on who is right about this until there are enough robots to affect the labor market one way or another.

[nativounit]

The People’s Daily, China’s official newspapers reports:

“China’s robotic development has entered a new stage, requiring further technological integration among different sectors,” Cao Jianlin, former Vice Minister of China’s Ministry of Science and Technology said during the summit. He further noted that China is emerging as a global leader in AI and robotics, and the country is aiming to move up the value chain.

Development in China’s robotics industry has skyrocketed in recent years, with over 6,500 robotics companies opening their doors in China by the end of 2017. According to statistics issued by the International Federation of Robots, China has already become the biggest global shareholder in robotics, with a net worth of $30 billion.

[recirclink id=434206]

The International Federation of Robots issued a report on the global robotics business. It did show China in the lead based on “Estimated worldwide annual supply of industrial robots” with about 87,000 units. This was followed by South Korea at 41,400, Japan with 38,600 and the United States at 31,400.

Is China ahead? At least in units built.

[wallst_email_signup]

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.