World Robot Conference kicks off in Beijing
Last updated on: 21 August,2019 04:22 pm
Themed "Intelligent Ecosystem for a New Open Era," this year’s attracted 180 research institutions.
BEIJING (Reuters) - The 2019 World Robot Conference (WRC) started Tuesday in Chinese capital Beijing. Now in its fifth year, the event has become a diversified platform for technology exchange and industrial cooperation among robotics practitioners worldwide.
Themed "Intelligent Ecosystem for a New Open Era," this year’s WRC attracted 180 research institutions and robotics companies around the world.
The exhibitors brought more than 700 latest robot research achievements, including specialized robot, industrial robots and service robots.
"This explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) robot, with no track or remote control, autonomously walking like a man. It is capable of finding [the suspected explosives], and then dig it out, or set a device on it to extend the detonating cords to a safe distance for detonation, so as to lower the risk for people working in some high-risk industries," said exhibitor Zhang Mei.
Forums and robot contests will also be held during the six-day event. More than 4,500 professionals from more than 20 countries and regions will compete in the contests.
"China is the biggest market for robots. We predict that by 2021, Chinese robots will account for 33.6 percent of the global robot market," said Xu Xiaolan, vice president of the Chinese Institute of Electronics.
Since the first World Robot Conference in 2015, the trade volume of robots has increased from 4.2 billion yuan (about 595.1 million U.S. dollars) in the first session to 8.9 billion yuan (about 1.26 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018. It is expected that the trade volume during this year’s conference will reach 10 billion yuan (about 1.42 billion U.S. dollars).