Industrial robot sales hit record

China purchased 141,000 industrial robots in 2017, up 58.1 percent year-on-year, but foreign brands accounted for nearly three quarters of that, showing that the gap is still widening between Chinese robot makers and their foreign peers.

The China International Robot Industry Summit, held on Tuesday in Shanghai, said the sales and growth rate of industrial robots hit records in 2017. Among industrial robots, 37,825 were domestically manufactured, up 29.8 percent year-on-year.

"As robotics is expanding into nearly every industry, Chinese robot makers should realize the gap between them and foreign brands, take advantage of China's robotics development boom and learn from foreign experience to help China grow from the world's largest robot market into a robot manufacturing power," said Qu Daokui, president of China Robot Industry Alliance and CEO of Shenyang-based Siasun Robot and Automation Co.