China Has An Army Of Robots On Its Side In The Tariff War

Reference: Found here

Headlines:

NINGBO, China – China's secret weapon in the trade war is an army of factory robots, powered by artificial intelligence, that have revolutionised manufacturing.

Factories are being automated across China at a breakneck pace. With engineers and electricians tending to fleets of robots, these operations are bringing down the cost of manufacturing while improving quality.

Factories are now more automated in China than in the United States, Germany or Japan. China has more factory robots for every 10,000 manufacturing workers than any other country except South Korea or Singapore, according to the International Federation of Robotics.

China's automation drive has been guided by government directives and backed with huge investment. And as robots replace workers, automation positions China to continue to dominate mass production even as its labour force ages and becomes less willing to take industrial jobs.

Mr He Liang, founder and CEO of Yunmu Intelligent Manufacturing, one of China's top producers of humanoid robots, said China was striving next to turn robotics into an entire new sector of business.

"The expectation for humanoid robots is to create another electric car industry," he said. "So from this perspective, it is a national strategy."

Robots are replacing workers not just in car factories but even in China's many thousands of back-alley workshops.

Mr Elon Li's curbside workshop in Guangzhou, the commercial hub of south-eastern China, has 11 workers who cut and weld metal to make inexpensive ovens and barbecue equipment. He is now preparing to pay US$40,000 (S$52,577) to a Chinese company for a robotic arm with a camera. The device uses artificial intelligence to observe how a worker welds the sides of an oven, and then duplicates the action with minimal human intervention.

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