Chinese state news outlet Xinhua recently ran two articles on Beijing’s “Intelligent Robotics” initiative, saying that the government and businesses are “jointly working on making [that direction] another ‘great Chinese success.'”
Xinhua said that, from the central government to local administrations, a series of initiatives have been launched to promote the development of intelligent robots. “With coordinated efforts from both policy and market sides, the industry is booming.” According to the article, some institutions predict that the scale of China’s robotics industry will grow to around 400 billion yuan (US$ 55 billion) during the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) 15th Five-Year Plan period. “The future is already here, bringing boundless opportunities.” Below are some more excerpts from the articles:
“The government has strong policy support in place: China has established a 60 billion yuan national artificial intelligence fund; the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is promoting “Robots+” supply-demand matching and application rollout; central and local governments are jointly building innovation centers for embodied intelligence and humanoid robots…
“In the first quarter, China’s output of industrial and service robots reached 149,000 and 2.6 million units respectively, representing year-on-year growth of 26 percent and 20 percent.
“Take the recent full-industry robotics matchmaking conference held in Shenzhen as an example: industrial robots have been upgraded from “mechanical arms” to “smart brains”; collaborative robots demonstrated intelligent operation solutions; participating companies showcased advanced technologies, such as transitioning from “dexterous hands” to “electronic skin.”
“On April 19, Beijing hosted the world’s first “Human-Robot Co-Run” half marathon, with 20 humanoid robots participating in the race.”
Sources:
1. Xinhua, May 6, 2025
http://www.xinhuanet.com/fortune/20250506/9220cd55101c44359b33bcb90d28232b/c.html
2. Xinhua, April 20, 2025
http://www.news.cn/tech/20250420/53172980dd8a4c5e81b4519380a09eac/c.html