A model of Tesla's humanoid 'Optimus' is on display at the 2024 World Robot Conference held in Beijing on Wednesday. Photo: Tao Mingyang/GT

The Chinese mainland and the Taiwan island should join hands to develop robots to deal with international competition amid the US' tech blockade against Chinese companies, Ren C. Luo, director of the International Center of Excellence on Intelligent Robotics and Automation of Taiwan University, told the Global Times on the sidelines of the 2024 World Robot Conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

Luo said the mainland has made significant progress in robotics research during recent years, especially in the field of humanoid robots, which is generally considered a more challenging technology.

He said there are mainly two kinds of robots on the Taiwan island, namely industrial robots and service robots. "Currently, the development of industrial robots in the mainland is very fast, with costs already reduced to about one-third of what they previously were in the past. The island has missed the best opportunity to develop robots. Now, many industries in the Taiwan island adopt robots that are manufactured in the mainland. In fact, many companies in the world are using mainland-made robots," Luo said.

Against the backdrop of the US' tech crackdown against China, the Taiwan island and the Chinese mainland should jointly develop robots to deal with international competition, Luo noted.

Regarding cutting-edge technologies, the US does not want others to catch up, while many of its actions against China have been unfair, Luo said.

However, the US' crackdown on China's high-tech sector will force us to find better solutions, and as a result, China may even surpass the US in different aspects, Luo said.

The island of Taiwan also has strong manufacturing capabilities, Luo said, noting that the mainland and the Taiwan island should strengthen cooperation in robotics. 

"We, being Chinese people, should develop robots together. We have a talent advantage and are not afraid of competition with the US," he added.

The 2024 World Robot Conference kicked off in Beijing on Wednesday. According to media reports, the conference attracts more than 416 guests from both home and abroad and will hold an exhibition that will bring together 169 international companies, including ABB, Tesla and Kuka.

Thanks to the rapid growth of industrial robot production capacity, China's installed capacity of industrial robots currently accounts for more than 50 percent of the world's total. More and more manufacturing companies have improved their production efficiency by using industrial robots. Made-in-China robots are contributing to the upgrade of the manufacturing industry, both at home and abroad, the Xinhua News Agency reported.