China: More Trade Tensions - less Robot Industry

[ThunderBlade + 231]

The robots – wired with wide LED smiles and cutesy personalities – are the brainchild of Chinese-American company AvatarMind, built to be futuristic retail workers, teacher’s assistants and household helpers. But even as the company polishes off production of 2,000 units, AvatarMind and companies like it are rethinking plans for international expansion in the face of widening tariffs. “We want to sell them for the price that is affordable for families, not just institutions. And Trump’s tariffs may affect that,” AvatarMind chief executive Dr John Ostrem said at the World Robot Conference. The main competitor to AvatarMind’s iPal humanoid robot is a similar but much pricier bot called Pepper, which is made by Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. Annualized growth rates for robot production in China dropped from 35.1 percent in May to just 6.3 percent in July, according to the country’s bureau of statistics. China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) says the slowdown is not related to trade. But analysts say there is an obvious link to direct tariffs on industrial machinery and robot parts, as well as domestic manufacturers’ putting off production during trade talks. 

[Pavel + 384]

In China, a robotic revolution is taking place with an eye on its economy, and decline of robots production is on direct link with tariffs with no doubt.

[pinto + 293]

So, the stock price concerning Robotics will go up soon?

[damirUSBiH + 327]

China wants to build robots to overtake its rivals, but it's not on the top. There were more than 6,500 robotics companies in China at the end of 2017, according to Chinese media. But, many analysts believe that Chinese robotics companies will have to do more if they want to stand out from the global competition.

[rainman + 263]

 One of their goals in national plan "Made in China by 2025" is for local companies to make up half of the domestic market for industrial robots in the next two years and capture about 70 percent of the market by 2025. Pretty ambitiously...  They want to beat the United States in the field of artificial intelligence.

[franco + 96]

One thing is for sure. They are constantly rising on this field. Sales of China's industrial robots in 2017 was around $4.22 billion, a 24 percent increase from a year ago, while sales of service robots were up 28 percent compared to the prior year at $1.32 billion. China in 2016 added around 87,000 industrial robots — slightly below Europe and the United States combined, according to the International Federation of Robotics.

[Petar + 76]

 

Transformers are coming....Girl looks a robotic fish swim in the water...

[jpZelabal + 63]

Generally about AI... It's impossible to find the ideal situation: make robots or machines that understand us and serve us ..