A visitor interacts with a humanoid robot at the China 5G+ Industrial Internet Conference in Wuhan, Central China’s Hubei Province on November 20, 2022. China has more than 4,000 “5G+industrial internet” projects in 10 key industries including electronic equipment manufacturing, iron and steel, and electric power. Photo: cnsphoto

 
The annual output of industrial robots in Shanghai would have reached more than 75,000 units in 2022, a year-on-year increase of six percent, becoming an important pillar for intelligent manufacturing in the city, government officials said on Tuesday.

By 2025, Shanghai will build 10 industry-leading robot brands, 100 benchmark robot application scenarios, and expand the industry scale to 100 billion ($14.76 billion) yuan, according to officials from Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization.

Over the next three years, Shanghai will focus on six key industries such as automobiles and high-end equipment to promote the transformation of intelligent manufacturing of industrial enterprises.

The targets include building a total of 200 smart factories, increase application scenarios of industrial robots by 20,000 and industrial robot density by 100 units per 10,000 people.

“2022 saw booming development for Shanghai's robot industry," Tang Wenkan, official from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization said, adding that robots are fully integrating into Shanghai's urban digital transformation and becoming residents’ work assistants and life partners.

According to the guideline for the robotics industry for the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), China will strive to become a global hub for robotics innovation by 2025, putting together a group of leading enterprises with international competitiveness and forming several industrial clusters with an international influence.

China’s massive investment in industrial robotics has put the country in the top ranking of robot density, surpassing the US for the first time, according to the results from the World Robotics 2022 Report of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) issued in December.

China is by far the fastest growing robot market in the world. The country has the highest number of annual installations, and since 2016 it has each year had the largest operational stock of robots, the report said.