To further strengthen innovation-driven development and achieve the transformation from a 'major manufacturing country' to a 'manufacturing power', China has begun vigorously implementing the 'Made in China 2025' plan, promoting automation and informatization upgrades centered on the intelligent manufacturing sector. Among these, industrial robots, as a major industry within the intelligent manufacturing sector, have always been a key focus of national attention.

China's industrial robot industry is accelerating its development. 

In recent years, under the dual positive influences of policy and market, China's industrial robot market size has continued to grow, with production expanding in tandem, showing a positive upward trend. According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, China's industrial robot production reached 130,000 units in 2017, a year-on-year increase of as high as 81%.

In terms of the stock of industrial robots, China currently ranks first globally, surpassing a number of developed countries such as the United States, Japan, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. Industry insiders predict that based on the overall development trend of industrial robots, over 34% of industrial robots will enter the Chinese market in 2018.

In 2013, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of the Industrial Robot Industry with a view to achieving rapid development of the robot industry. Therefore, the sharp increase in China's industrial robot production and stock is closely related to the government's increased support and the release of policy dividends. At the same time, domestic related enterprises' continuous increase in R&D investment and foreign enterprises' competition to strengthen capital layout are also important influencing factors for the rapid development of China's industrial robot market.

Currently, the application fields of industrial robots in our country are becoming increasingly extensive. They have expanded from more mature industries such as automobiles and electronics to more manufacturing sectors including healthcare, food processing, construction, and environmental protection. In the future, they are expected to maintain a stable expansion trend, continuously broadening their application scope and further driving the growth of the market size.

Core components of robots are the main challenge

Domestic Chinese robot companies such as Shengong and E-Fort are making significant progress in the industrial robot sector, gradually breaking the 'dominant' position of traditional robot powerhouses like Japan and Europe. However, despite the healthy growth of the domestic robot market and the continuous development of domestic robot enterprises, this does not mean that China has achieved a complete victory in the competition within the industrial robot field.

In fact, there remains a considerable gap between China and foreign giants in core technologies and key components for industrial robots. Additionally, gaps still exist in the development of the industrial chain and the market share in mid-to-high-end segments.

Regarding key components, Chinese industrial robot companies have long been purchasing from foreign enterprises. For example, they import various reducers from Japan and machine vision equipment and grippers from Germany. To move away from the ization of high-end industries, break foreign technological monopolies, and truly realize the rise of China's domestic industrial robot industry, sustained breakthroughs must be made at the key components stage.

Of course, overcoming the obstacle of 'key components' is no easy task and requires joint efforts from the government, industry, and enterprises. Only by fully leveraging the strengths of all parties and fully mobilizing existing resources can new progress be made in core technologies, and high-quality core components with independent intellectual property rights be developed. This will enable China to take control of its vast domestic industrial robot market.

Breakthroughs have been made in domestically produced RA reducers. Modern industrial robots are becoming increasingly flexible and agile, capable of stably and accurately performing numerous practical tasks while ensuring process quality—all of which rely on control systems such as reducers. In simple terms, reducers are akin to the joints of industrial robots; only with high-quality reducer products can industrial robots fully leverage their potential.

For a long time, China's industrial robots primarily imported RV reducers from Japan,

 which greatly constrained the development of domestic robot enterprises and the manufacturing of domestic robots. This was highly unfavorable for the sustainable development of domestic robots and significantly impacted domestic robot companies' efforts to seize development leadership and enhance market competitiveness.

It is reported that the RV reducer consists of a cycloidal pin wheel and a planetary carrier, offering numerous advantages such as compact size, strong impact resistance, high torque, high positioning accuracy, low vibration, and large reduction ratio. It has been widely applied in fields including industrial robots, machine tools, medical testing equipment, and satellite receiving systems.

Not long ago, after years of effort, the 707th Research Institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation successfully developed an RV reducer independently. This reducer can be used in industrial robots for welding and spraying, as well as wind power equipment, and is expected to achieve large-scale commercialization within the year. Breakthroughs in the RV reducer field will provide strong support for the complete domestication of China's industrial robots.

In the future, as domestic reducers mature in both technology and the market, they will be able to leverage their cost-performance advantages to first enter the mid-to-low-end industrial robot market and then make inroads into the high-end industrial robot market. By 2020, the domestic reducer market size is expected to exceed 6.6 billion yuan, presenting great opportunities for domestic reducers.