The world’s biggest market for robotic machinery, China, held its first robot trade show over the summer. The China International Robot Show (CIROS) 2015, the nation’s first took place in Shanghai and was aimed at promoting further development of the industry and leading change in the manufacturing sector. The exhibition, which covered an area of 24,000 square meters, included industrial robot body parts, integrated application solutions and service robot technologies and products.
The show came at a time of surging demand for robots in China, thanks to the upgrade in manufacturing facilities across the country. Sales of industry robots hit 36,560 units in 2013, a spike of 60 per cent compared to the previous year.
China has been the world’s biggest market for robotic machinery since 2013, and demand domestically is growing. In 2016, China is expected to have installed more robots than any other nation globally, according to the International Federation for Robotics (IFR). The federation also estimates the number of robots in operation across the country will double to 400,000 by 2017 from 200,000 at present. Currently, China has 30 industrial robots for every 10,000 manufacturing workers, almost a double the number in 2013.
The robotics industry worldwide is expected to create a market of trillions of dollars in the coming decade, especially as their use expands from the auto and electronics industries to military, aerospace, aviation, construction and healthcare.