A Study on the Development of the Chinese Industrial Robot Industry

Abstract

Although the production and usage of robots in China reached the world’s highest level in 2016, China shows significant gaps from robot industrial powers not only in terms of performance such as accuracy and repeatability but also in terms of industrial robot density, which is a quantitative aspect, with 64 robots per 10,000 workers. In particular, joint ventures of foreign companies such as FANUC, Yaskawa, and ABB dominate the industrial robot market. Even in the situation as such, in terms of industrial policies, diverse efforts have been devoted mainly by the Chinese local governments such as providing subsidies to manufacturing companies in the field of core technologies including Nantong Zhenkang Welding Electromachinery (南通振康), Tsino-Dynatron (清能德创), and Inovance (深圳汇川技术), and constructing a comprehensive industrial value chain. In terms of market and demand, Nantong Zhenkang Welding Electromachinery participates in the establishment of national standards, Siasun is making cooperative robots with 7 degrees of freedom with competitiveness in welding robots and AGV robots, and Leaderdrive(绿的谐波) is showing competitiveness close to the parameters of Japanese companies in the field of harmonic drives, Tsino-Dynatron has targeted the niche markets of Japanese and American companies, and Inovance is increasing its market share through its management team’s technical capabilities and teamwork.