'Made in China 2025' stands at a new historical height, starting from a strategic overall perspective, clearly proposing China's action plan for the first decade of implementing the manufacturing powerhouse strategy. It designates "high-end CNC machine tools and robots" as one of the key areas to be vigorously promoted. It proposes that the development of the robotics industry should "actively research and develop new products, promote the standardization and modularization of robots, and expand market application, focusing on the needs of industrial robot applications in industries such as automotive, machinery, electronics, hazardous goods manufacturing, national defense military, chemical, and light industry, as well as service robot applications in healthcare, home services, education, and entertainment. Break through technical bottlenecks such as robot body, reducers, servo motors, controllers, sensors and drivers, and system integration design and manufacturing technology." Furthermore, in the key areas' technological innovation roadmap, it clearly defines the main development focuses for China's robotics industry over the next decade in two directions: first, to develop serialized products for industrial robot bodies and key components, promote the industrialization and application of industrial robots, and meet the urgent needs of China's manufacturing transformation and upgrading; second, to break through key technologies for intelligent robots, develop a batch of intelligent robots, and actively respond to the challenges of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation.

　　I. Demand-oriented approach to enhance innovation capability and expand market application

　　According to different application environments, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) divides robots into two categories: industrial robots in manufacturing environments and service robots in non-manufacturing environments. Industrial robots are a general term for robots used in industrial production and are important factory automation equipment. Service robots are non-productive robots that serve humans. Service robot technology is mainly applied in unstructured environments, has a relatively complex structure, and can obtain information about the external environment through its own sensors and communication, thereby making decisions and completing corresponding tasks.

　　1. China has become the world's largest industrial robot market, with potential yet to be unleashed.

　　Industrial robots mainly refer to multi-joint manipulators or multi-degree-of-freedom robots oriented towards industrial fields, used in industrial production processes for handling, welding, assembly, processing, painting, and clean production. In 2014, global industrial robot sales reached a new historical high of 225,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 27%. The market growth was mainly driven by Asian regions, especially China and South Korea.

　　In recent years, China's robot market demand has grown rapidly and has become an important global robot market. In 2014, China's industrial robot sales reached 56,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 52%, making it the world's largest industrial robot market once again. Users have expanded from predominantly foreign-owned enterprises and Sino-foreign joint ventures to domestic enterprises, and even small and medium-sized enterprises. Many enterprises in China's industrially developed coastal areas export their products, which require high product quality, and an increasing number of enterprises are adopting robots to replace industrial workers. In the Pearl River Delta region, the average annual growth rate of industrial robot usage has reached 30%, especially in areas such as assembly, dispensing, handling, and welding, where a wave of robot adoption has emerged.

　　Although China has been the world's largest industrial robot market since 2013, the density of industrial robots in manufacturing remains very low. In 2013, China's industrial robot density was only 30 units per 10,000 industrial workers, less than half of the global average, and the gap is even larger compared to highly automated countries like South Korea (437 units per 10,000 industrial workers), Japan (323 units per 10,000 industrial workers), and Germany (282 units per 10,000 industrial workers). The domestic industrial robot market still has huge potential.

　　As a major manufacturing country, China has historically lagged in the application of industrial robots. Except for the automotive industry, the application of robots in general manufacturing, which is widespread and large in volume, is largely spontaneous, dispersed, or fragmented. With the development of factory automation in China, industrial robots will also be rapidly promoted in other industrial sectors, such as electronics, metal products, rubber and plastics, food, building materials, civil explosives, aviation, and medical equipment.

　　The extent of industrial robot application is an important indicator of a country's level of industrial automation. The development of industrial robots in China should revolve around accelerating the development needs of intelligent manufacturing in China, coordinating both robot supply and demand sides. On one hand, it should improve the innovation capabilities of China's robot manufacturing enterprises, promote the standardized, modular, and systematic development of robots, reduce usage costs, enhance integrated application levels, thereby expanding the scope of market application. On the other hand, it should actively launch pilot applications for self-developed robots and focus on a number of typical application demonstration projects with outstanding effects, strong driving force, and high relevance, thereby promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing through the use of industrial robots.

　　2. China's service robot industry should be demand-oriented and developed with a focus.

　　Service robots include professional service robots and personal/domestic service robots. The application scope of service robots is very wide, mainly engaging in maintenance, repair, transportation, cleaning, security, rescue, guardianship, as well as medical, elderly care, rehabilitation, and disability assistance work. Service robots are a new type of intelligent equipment and a strategic high-tech product, with a larger market potential than industrial robots in the future.

　　Global service robots have shown rapid growth in the past five years. According to statistics from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), in 2013, global sales of professional service robots and personal/domestic service robots reached 21,000 units and 4 million units, respectively, with market values of 3.57 billion USD and 1.7 billion USD, representing year-on-year growth of 4% and 28% respectively. In the coming years, the global service robot market will continue to grow rapidly. With major breakthroughs in mutual learning and shared knowledge cloud robot technology, small home-use auxiliary robots will significantly reduce production costs, forming an emerging market of at least 41.6 billion USD by 2020. On the other hand, although assistive devices for the disabled have started slowly, high growth is predictable over the next 20 years.

　　Currently, the technological R&D of service robots globally is mainly led by five countries: the United States, Japan, China, Germany, and South Korea. The development of service robots in China lags behind industrial robots. Compared to countries like Japan and the United States, China started relatively late in the R&D of service robots, and there is still a relatively large absolute gap with developed countries. However, compared to industrial robots, the domestic and international gap is smaller. Service robots generally need to be developed in conjunction with specific demand markets, making it easier for local enterprises to combine with specific environments and cultures to gain a good market position, thereby maintaining a certain competitive advantage. On the other hand, foreign service robots also belong to emerging industries, and most service robot companies have been established for a relatively short time, thus China's service robot industry faces significant opportunities and development space.

　　From a development trend perspective, China's professional service robots are expected to achieve industrialization ahead of personal/domestic robots, especially medical robots, and inspection/detection robots for hazardous and special environments. As China enters an aging society, the demand for medical, nursing, and rehabilitation services will increase. At the same time, people's pursuit of higher quality of life will provide a broader market space for personal/domestic robots in the future.

　　II. Breaking through technical bottlenecks and enhancing industrialization capabilities

　　Robots integrate modern manufacturing technology, new material technology, and information control technology. They are representative products of intelligent manufacturing, and their R&D, manufacturing, and application have become important indicators for measuring a country's technological innovation and manufacturing level, drawing high attention from major manufacturing powers worldwide.

　　The development of China's robotics industry can be traced back to the 1980s, when the Ministry of Science and Technology included industrial robots in the scientific and technological breakthrough plan. The former Ministry of Machine Building Industry took the lead in organizing research on industrial robots of various types such as spot welding, arc welding, painting, and handling. Other ministries also actively approved and supported projects, leading to the first peak in China's industrial robot development. Subsequently, mainly due to market demand, independent R&D and industrialization of robots experienced a long period of stagnation. After 2010, China's robot installed capacity increased year by year, and development began to focus on the entire robot industry chain.

　　The development of the robotics industry includes R&D and testing, industrialization of robot bodies and components, system integration technology, services, etc., and every link is important. The development of China's robotics industry chain is a long and arduous process. Overall, most of China's robot companies are currently concentrated in the integration field, with processing and assembly enterprises accounting for the majority. There is still a considerable gap with developed countries in terms of original research on core and key technologies, highly reliable basic functional components, system process application solutions, and mass production of mainframes. In terms of key components, precision reducers, servo motors, and drivers, among other key components, heavily rely on imports. Although the state has invested significant support in this area for many years, the relatively small market scale and low industrialization level previously were not enough to drive the development of core components, leading to unsatisfactory results.

　　It can be seen that China's insufficient robot technology strength restricts the scale of industrialization, and the small scale, in turn, restricts technological development, all of which affect the industrialization process of robots. To enhance the market competitiveness of domestically produced robots, on the one hand, it is necessary to expand the output of domestic robots and increase the production capacity of domestic robot enterprises; on the other hand, it is necessary to promote the localization of key components for domestic robots and improve the production capacity of key components to meet the needs of domestic robot production capacity expansion.

　　In recent two years, the state has attached great importance to intelligent manufacturing and robotics. Multiple departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, are vigorously promoting the development of the robotics industry. They are working from various aspects such as top-level design, fiscal and financial support, demonstration applications, and talent training to advance the development of independent brand robots. Support policies are becoming increasingly comprehensive and detailed. China's robotics industry roadmap and the "13th Five-Year Plan" for the robotics industry are also steadily progressing. This will greatly promote Chinese robot enterprises in breaking through technical bottlenecks and improving their industrialization capabilities.

　　Currently, for China's robotics industry, it is no longer a question of whether or not to attach importance, but rather how to view this industry and what kind of mindset to adopt for its cultivation and orderly development. Regarding various issues such as market demand, technological innovation models, and funding methods for the robotics industry, local governments' support policies for this industry are expected to become more detailed.

　　III. Accelerate the R&D and production of next-generation robots to seize the next high ground in robot technology and industrial development.

　　With the development of robotics technology, robots are categorized into general robots and intelligent robots based on their functions. General robots refer to those with only general programming and operational capabilities, and most robots currently produced in China fall into this category. There is no unified definition for intelligent robots, but most experts believe that intelligent robots should possess at least the following major functional characteristics: first, the ability to adapt to uncertain working conditions; second, the ability to flexibly operate complex objects; third, the ability to closely coordinate and cooperate with humans; fourth, the ability to naturally interact with humans; and fifth, human-robot cooperation safety features. Whether modern industrial robots or service robots, they will eventually evolve into intelligent robots with learning capabilities. We generally refer to intelligent robots as next-generation robots. With the continuous advancement of technologies such as 3D visual perception/cognition and force sensors, and the deep integration with new-generation information technologies like industrial internet, cloud computing, and big data, the intelligence level of next-generation robots will further improve, their perception capabilities of the external environment will further enhance, enabling them to complete dynamic and complex tasks, achieve multi-robot collaboration, and work collaboratively with humans.

　　To further seize international markets and enhance the global competitive position of manufacturing, major economic powers are eager to act, formulating development plans to gain an early advantage in advanced robotics technology. Currently, the German government is promoting the "Industry 4.0" strategy, building "smart factories" and creating "smart production," with one of its key topics being the interactive cooperation between humans and machines, and between machines and machines. In 2013, the United States proposed the "US Robotics Roadmap," focusing on manufacturing to overcome key technologies such as robot strong adaptability and reconfigurable assembly, human-like dexterous manipulation, model-based integration and supply chain design, autonomous navigation, perception in unstructured environments, education and training, and intrinsic safety for robots working with humans. In early 2015, the Japanese government announced the "New Robot Strategy for Japan," explicitly stating in its five-year action plan the goal of "researching and developing technologies such as data terminalization, networking, and cloud computing to be realized in next-generation robots." In recent years, the South Korean government has successively released multiple policies aimed at fostering the R&D and application of third-generation intelligent robots. South Korea's "Robot Future Strategy 2022," announced in 2012, focuses on supporting Korean companies to enter international markets and seize the initiative in intelligent robot industrialization. Under the vigorous promotion of technologically strong countries like the US, Japan, and Europe, next-generation robot prototypes, demonstration applications, and even practical systems have continuously emerged over the past five years.

　　Currently, from China's perspective, the demand market for next-generation industrial robots is not yet fully mature, but the development and reserve of strategically significant common technologies are particularly urgent. At present, in developing the next-generation robotics industry, China should first focus on solidifying the technological foundation of the robotics industry, vigorously promoting the industrialization process of existing robots, and accelerating the promotion and application of independent brand robots in the domestic market. It is necessary to explore new technology R&D models, encourage research institutes and enterprises to leverage their respective strengths, and jointly establish national-level platforms for frontier and common technology R&D and reserve for next-generation industrial robots. Starting from China's national conditions and demands, breakthroughs in core technologies for next-generation robots should be made, prototype systems and products of next-generation robots should be developed, and the industrialization process should be promoted to seize the international high ground for next-generation robots. For robot products applied in different fields, different development strategies should be implemented: on the one hand, with enterprises as the core and common technology platforms as support, prioritize the development of next-generation industrial robots, promote alignment between production and demand, and seize the high ground of development; on the other hand, be market-oriented, grasp the characteristics of domestic demand, and develop service robots for medical, elder care, and disability assistance, as well as special robots for operations in harsh service environments.