China's robotic industry ready to lead the world

By Rabi Sankar Bosu

Themed "Win-Win Collaborative Innovation Toward the Building of an Intelligent Society", this year's World Robot Conference (WRC), which ended on August 27, 2017, showcased the astounding vitality of China's burgeoning robot industry. The five-day conference kicked off at the Beijing Etrong International Exhibition and Convention Center on August 23 with the aim at promoting scientific and technological progress under the new industrial development trends in the world. Surely, the conference echoed China's national strategy of robotic and digitized manufacturing upgrades to catapult China to lead the world in artificial intelligence (AI) technology by 2025.

Nearly 300 artificial intelligent (AI) specialists and representatives of more than 150 leading Chinese and foreign companies attended the prestigious international conference to show off their cutting-edge achievements and products including industrial robots, special-purpose robots, service robots, artificial intelligence (AI), smart homes and more. Since it was established in 2015, the WRC has become the biggest and the most international event in the fields of robot manufacturing and artificial intelligence. It is a platform for the robotics industry to show off its latest creations and promote robotics on every level.

Visitors watch the demostration of a welding robot at the World Robot Conference 2017 in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 25, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua]

China's hosting of the World Robotics Conference comes as no surprise. After all, China has been the world's largest market for industrial robots for five years, accounting for over 30 percent of the global market. In 2016, China manufactured 72,000 industrial robots, around a quarter of global output. According to a report released by the Chinese Institute of Electronics at the WRC, it is estimated that more than 110,000 robots will be sold by China for industrial use in 2017.

In the meantime, the value of China's service robot market will reach 1.32 billion U.S. dollars this year, up 28 percent year- on- year, according to the report. Estimates by the International Federation of Robotics, suggest the installation of robots in China surged by 27 percent year-on-year in 2016, to 87,000 units. The figure is close to one-third of all global robot installations in that year. By 2019, the figure is expected to double to 160,000 units.

Speaking on Aug 23 at the opening ceremony of the 2017 WRC, Liu Yandong, China's Vice-Premier, said: "In the future, robots will no longer just be a tool to boost productivity but an advanced, smart assistant to humans, ushering in a new era of intelligent transformation." It is noticeable that China has prioritized robotic and digitized manufacturing as part of its national strategy. It's really encouraging that China very much wants to strengthen cooperation with other countries to improve research and speed up the industrialization of robot technology.

This year saw an big increase in robots - specialized robots, industrial robots, service robots, surgical robots - on display at this year's WRC. From chatting with visitors, playing the piano and doing surgery, robots stole the hearts of the audience. Voice-controlled humanoid butler Alpha 2, created by Chinese firm UBTech Robotics, charmed the crowds.

U05 Robot, developed by Shenzhen's CANBOT, supports voice interaction, facial emotion recognition, motion control and automatic obstacle-avoidance. Bestic, created by China's FN Robotics, is an eating-assistant robot that simulates the function of a human's upper limb, providing support for people with upper limb disorder during meals. Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com's robot courier and drone can deliver packages by passing over mountains, across rivers and through forests.

US Company, Intuitive Surgical brought its robotic Da Vinci Surgical System to the conference. It is designed to facilitate complex surgery using a minimally invasive approach and is controlled by a surgeon from a console. Italy's incredible human-like robotic pianist with 53 fingers, TeoTronico won the audience over with his musical prowess at the WRC.

In recent years, China has accelerated efforts to integrate artificial intelligence technologies into robots as the country aims to build a smarter, automated society by 2025. It should be noted here that on July 20, 2017, China's State Council unveiled the "Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan", which outlines China's aims to lead the world in AI.

The application of AI technologies in robotics is an integral part of that ambitious goal. The "Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan" will give funds to AI-related projects, such as the CAS Institute of Automation, a Beijing consortium of companies and universities. China intends to pursue a first-mover advantage to become the premier global AI innovation center, pushing the domestic AI level to a more international approach challenging US dominance.

AI technology is the key characteristic of the robotics industry. It is widely seen as the next frontier of innovation and growth, expected to be the biggest driving force in human history in the next 30 to 50 years with China assuming world leadership. With its considerable strength in AI research and development, it has become a powerhouse of innovation in deep learning, sensors, predictive maintenance, medical imaging and intelligent robotics.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to the robotics industry and Artificial Intelligence 2.0. Robots play a key role in the Chinese government's national strategic manufacturing plan "Made in China 2025". Robots were first mentioned in the Chinese government's work report of 2014, in the context of China's aim to achieve "major breakthroughs in super computing, intelligent robots, super hybrid rice, and other key technologies." In 2015 China launched the "Made in China 2025" strategy. The plan is to replenish China's manufacturing with high-end and low-energy technologies, highlighting the robotics industry.

The 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), the Made in China 2025 program, Robotics Industry Development Plan and Three-Year Guidance for Internet Plus Artificial Intelligence Plan (2016-2018) are all contributing to boosting AI research and development. Earlier this year, China's Ministry of Science and Technology established a 2 billion yuan ($294 million) special fund for intelligent robot research and development, according to China Securities Journal.

During the opening meeting of the fifth session of China's 12th National People's Congress (NPC) on March 5, Premier Li Keqiang announced in his Government Work Report China's strong determination to support AI growth. "We will accelerate R&D on and commercialization of new materials, artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, bio-pharmacy, 5G mobile communications, and other technologies, and develop industrial clusters in these fields," the report read. This was a clear message China intends to assume worldwide leadership in technology.

As part of the "Made in China 2025" plan, the government has pinpointed AI as a key area for advancement. During the first World Intelligence Congress in Tianjin, north China, on June 29, 2017, Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang revealed the intention to roll out a slate of important artificial intelligence projects and step up efforts to cultivate AI talents to gain a lead in the cutting-edge technology. On August 25, 2017, while meeting with government officials and executives of state-owned enterprises, private firms and financial institutions, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang asked Chinese companies to use Internet and big data technologies to reorganize their research and development, production and business patterns.

According to Xinhua, China plans to expand its artificial intelligence products market to over US$15 billion by 2018 by speeding up the manufacturing of products like robots, home appliances and mobile phones as part of efforts to develop new technologies to upgrade the structure and performance of the real economy. At present, China's robot market has reached US$11 billion, and 31 percent of the world's robots are made in China. The Chinese government is aiming to expand the share to 50 percent by 2020.

China is extremely well-placed to take advantage of the coming AI revolution. It has a lot of data, it has lots of big tech companies which are well positioned to develop. China possibly surpasses all others in the pursuit of AI technological eminence. Chinese technology companies, large and small, have already created AI systems in their core businesses with measurable impact on human lives and are not lagging behind in artificial intelligence applications offered by American high-tech giants - Google, Microsoft, IBM, Facebook and Amazon.

However, AI technology may lead the world in the fields of manufacturing sectors, transportation system, education, medical care etc, but with it comes the responsibility towards humankind, as President Xi Jinping warned in his speech at the 12th G20 Hamburg Summit on July 7, 2017. He said: "According to the projections of the World Economic Forum, artificial intelligence will wipe out more than five million jobs in the world by 2020, requiring adherence to the principle 'AI for the people, by the people'." We must make machines our best partner, rather than letting them replace us.

(Rabi Sankar Bosu is Secretary of New Horizon Radio Listeners' Club, based in West Bengal, India)