At
the World Robot Conference 2016, which ran from Friday to Tuesday in a
southern suburb of Beijing, some companies complained that the event is
unlikely to help them due to the overheated market. Manufacturers
looking to automate have had a hard time finding workers to operate
their robots, and the industry is still struggling with how to better
integrate operation systems. The frenzy in China's robotics market is
cooling, and people are raising more practical questions about how to
best implement robotics in manufacturing.
Beijing-based
Yaskawa Shougang Robot Co showcases its industrial robots at the World
Robot Conference 2016 in Beijing. Photo: Chen Qingqing/GT
On
a chilly Friday afternoon, dozens of attendees at the World Robot Conference
2016 in suburban Beijing gathered around an industrial robotic arm
demonstrating its delicate grip and wide range of motion.
The
six-axis robotic arm can be used in a wide range of applications such as
assembly, dispensing, materials handling and packaging.
"I
am not surprised by the progress these exhibitors have made in automation. I
know many Chinese factories are equipped with industrial robots to increase
efficiency," an attendee surnamed Zhang told the Global Times on Friday at
the conference, which ended on Tuesday.
China
has been considered a growth market for industrial robots over the last few
years, Vitaly Nedelskiy, president of the Russian Association of Robotics, said
at the conference on Friday.
China's
supply of industrial robots grew by a robust 17 percent in 2015, Nedelskiy
noted. Companies installed 68,000 robots last year, though the ratio of robots
to workers remains far below the global average.
Globally,
the average ratio of robots to workers, known in the industry as robot density,
stood at 69 installed robots for every 10,000 employees in 2015, according to
the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).
By
comparison, China's average robot density is about 49 robots per 10,000
workers, Nedelskiy noted.
Under
its "Made in China 2025" or China's "Industry 4.0," the
Chinese government has set a target for China to have 150 robots per 10,000
workers by 2020.
To
achieve the goal, the country's industrial enterprises would have to add
600,000 to 650,000 industrial robots by the end of the decade, according to the
IFR.
Because
the government is encouraging Chinese manufacturers to install more automated
machinery and robots to boost efficiency, about 3,400 companies around the
country are now engaged in the robotics business, domestic industry news site
robot.ofweek.com reported in May.
However,
the development of China's robotics industry has been uneven and the market has
grown overheated, leaving major challenges that need to be addressed, industry
experts said during the conference.
Men
and machines
Despite
the rapid growth of China's robotics industry, which had about 20 percent of
the domestic market share in 2015, the country lacks workers trained to run the
machines, said Qu Daokui, president of Shenyang SIASUN Robot & Automation
Co. The lack of workers is one of the major issues many Chinese factories are
facing today.
With
the government so clearly behind the robotics industry, factories have jumped
to acquire automated machinery. The city of Dongguan, South China's Guangdong
Province, often referred to as "the world's factory," has adopted a
strategy called "Robotics-powered Smart Manufacturing" to improve the
productivity of local manufacturers.
There
are nearly 200 robot manufacturers in Dongguan, according to a document the
local government sent to the Global Times in February. So far, 400 factories
have been equipped with a total of 10,000 robots.
Although
they have the robots, they still need people to operate them, said Qu, whose
company acquired a German vocational training institution in February.
"More
and more factories are asking us to teach them how to use [industrial robots],
instead of just installing them, which illustrates how important it is to
educate more skillful workers," Qu told the Global Times.
The
lack of trained workers has weighed on some small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) in the Pearl River Delta, said an employee in charge of automation at an
original equipment manufacturer in Dongguan, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity. Dongguan is an industrial powerhouse in the Pearl River Delta
region.
The
situation also jeopardizes the government's goal of automating more of the
city's manufacturing industry.
"It's
hard to find sufficient skillful workers who can handle those machines, and
some factories only use automated machines when local officials visit their
production lines, and they go back to labor-intensive production after [the
officials] leave," the employee told the Global Times on Sunday.
The
factories benefit from the government subsidies they receive for rebranding
themselves as an "automated business," but few local SMEs actually
benefit from installing industrial robots, the employee said.
As
it turns out, operating a robot is a multidisciplinary task involving the
integration of software, hardware and core technologies, experts said.
A
lot of people just think "I'll buy a robot and place it and connect
it", but they end up with a lot of problems, said Oussama Khatib, director
of robotics laboratory at Stanford University.
Technology
and the future
For
those who focus on research and development (R&D) in the robotics sector,
more effort needs to be made to make the machine smarter by introducing more
advanced technologies, but China has a long way to go, industry representatives
said.
The
rise of China's robotics industry has encouraged a growing number of companies
to enter the field, but many of them don't bother with developing their own
core technology and stick to manufacturing low-end products, said Gan Zhongxue,
chief technology officer of the ENN Group.
"Some
elements like the RV reducer and controller are still produced by foreign
companies," he told the Global Times on Friday. An RV reducer, one of
reduction gears, is used for transmission and the controller is used for
controlling the machine.
Purchasing
those components from overseas raises the manufacturing costs for Chinese
robotics companies.
As
far as technological trends are concerned, companies will be concentrating on
the collaboration between humans and machines, simplified applications and
light-weight robots, the IFR said in its World Robotics Report 2016.
And
the demand for industrial robots will likewise be driven by a whole assortment
of factors, such as the handling of new materials, energy efficiency, and
better developed automation concepts, the report said.
For
now, a large part of industrial robots are operating under digital control
systems, but a more harmonized human-robot interaction requires greater
flexibility and autonomous operation in unstructured environments, which is
unlikely to be achieved for the moment, said Zuo Shiquan, head of the equipment
industry institute at the CCID Institute affiliated with the Ministry of
Industry and Information Technology.
"Although
the application of robots in China has expanded in recent years, the next step
ought to be to improve R&D, which will help keep us from falling behind our
foreign competitors," he told the Global Times.
By Chen Qingqing Source:Global Times Published: 2016/10/24 19:38:39
