China is fast becoming market leader in the market for service robots. They have robots to help children with their homework or serving diner in restaurants, in Peking there are already 4 restaurant without human waitresses. This weekend all of the Chinese Robot technique is exposed on the worlds biggest robot expo in the Chinese capital.
Since the Chinese president has declared that China has to become the world market leader in 2030 there are no boundaries in the innovation of the robot industry. The government is giving away large subsidies and tax benefits to stimulate the development of robots. In the Chinese regions like Zhejinang which are very industrialized they go one step further and they see the robotics as an essential part in economic development. They suggest that they need the robots to stay competitive and as a solution to the labor shortage. By the one-child policy in China there is a large labor shortage and they are now trying to solve this with robotics.
The service robots make their entry in the lives of wealthy Chinese families. For example the robot Yoby, a robot specially made for company of children and older people. In many families they use this robot to tell ancient stories from the Chinese culture to kids, an activity which many parents don’t have time for. Yoby is one of the most successful robots in the Chinese market and there are currently 4000 companies who sells this robot.
At the other hand there are many critics for the large subsidies for the robot industry. Many companies are only active in this market because of these subsidies and they are seen as very incompetent companies. Many of these companies won’t survive and then the subsidies will be considered as a waste of money. Fortunately there are more supporters and they see a lot of development in the growth of knowledge in the field of robotics.
Hi, thanks for your post. I had no idea robots were already applied on such a large scale in China, especially in the consumer industry. However, for some reason I don’t feel like we will see large scale use of robotics in the Western world any time soon. Like the Yoby robot you mentioned that reads stories to children, doesn’t seem to fit the western culture in my eyes. What is your view on this?