They can help with the housework and even kick around a football, but robots aren't coming for your jobs just yet. That was the reassurance from robot experts gathered at an international conference that kicked off in Beijing on Monday.
The three-day event includes a forum, an exhibition and a robot contest for youth. A human-like "female" robot named Genminoid F became the queen of the event. With long silken black hair falling over her shoulder, the attractive android, who appeared to be in her early 20s, was sitting in the exhibition hall and answering questions from a Xinhua reporter in a smooth, natural voice. "I like Beijing very much," it said. "I'm an emotional robot from Japan. I can talk, sing and dance. And I'm a good listener," she said, looking satisfied by the shock on the audience's face when they were told she was not a real human. "I wish I could marry her!" one visitor said jokingly.
A robot football game was also held at the event. Robot cleaners, robots that wipe glass, deliver food, teach infants and help the handicapped were all exhibited. Decades after the first working robot was invented in 1961, "we are now in a new era of robotics," said Arturo Baroncelli, president of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).
According to Baroncelli's estimation, some 1.5 million robots are in use in factories worldwide, with the total number poised to reach 2.3 million in the next three years.
Robotics scientists envision a future where robots will look like human beings that can listen, see, talk and identify different environments. They will also have memories that allow them to think and make decisions. But is it possible? Although robotics are far from entering people's everyday life, scientists estimate that mankind will one day create robots with language, expressions and even thought. Furthermore, service robots will become the next booming robotic industry, with sales surpassing industrial robots, which account for 80 percent of the global market, in the next five to 10 years.
The Republic of Korea is planning a service robot for every family by 2020, and the United States has a similar plan. Some experts estimate that by 2050 robots will be capable of playing football alongside humans.
At the present time, Japan is leading the world in service robot technology, while Europe, the Republic of Korea and China are catching up. In a congratulatory letter, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China is willing to cooperate with other nations in promoting robotics research and development.
Premier Li Keqiang said the conference is important for promoting robot technology as China promotes innovation-driven development and entrepreneurship to transform the country from the "world's factory" to a technological powerhouse.
"The conference will spur the growth of the emerging robot industry and create the world's largest robot market," Li said.
China has already formed an ever expanding market for domestic robots. During this year's Single's Day shopping spree on Nov. 11, well-known Chinese robot company Ecovacs sold more than 100,000 vacuum-cleaning robots online with turnover of 315 million yuan (50 million U.S. dollars) As the supply of cheap labor dries up, Chinese manufacturers are gradually replacing manual labor with robots.
According to the IFR, a total of 57,000 industrial robots were sold in China last year, a year-on-year increase of 55 percent, and a quarter of global sales. From 2009 to 2014, sales of industrial robots in China increased by 58.9 percent per year, said Wang Jianyu, an official from the equipment department with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
According to Wang, China will need 150,000 industrial robots annually during the next five years, with the total number in the Chinese market rising to 800,000. But China still has a far lower ratio of robots to workers than other major economies -- just 36 per 10,000 manufacturing workers, versus 478 in the Republic of Korea, 315 in Japan, 292 in Germany and 164 in the United States. To rectify this, the country is including robotics into its five-year development plan for 2016-2020.
Wang Jianyu said the plan will be market-oriented and innovation-driven, focusing on strengthening the country's basic capacity in this industry and improving robot quality. In the next five years, China will expand input in robotics and try to make breakthroughs in key fields, developing next-generation robots and service robots, Wang said.
The conference has drawn more than 100 experts, 12 international robotics organizations and over 120 robotics companies. The event was organized by the China Association for Science and Technology and the MIIT.
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