Special Report – In today’s industrial and manufacturing landscape, robots are increasingly prevalent. While their adoption aims to enhance productivity and safety, it also brings forth a host of questions regarding industrial development, safety standards, and operational risks. To gain deeper insights into the application of robots in the field of occupational safety, an interview was conducted with Yao Zhiju, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Robot Industry Alliance (CRIA).
Industrial Transformation Fuels the Rise of the China Robot Sector
The development of the robot industry in China did not start late on a global scale. According to Yao Zhiju, the global robot industry began in the 1960s and 1970s, with significant growth occurring in the 1980s. China initiated its own robotics specialization in the early 1980s, with the former Ministry of Machinery Industry establishing research projects for robot development and application.
“Actually, the start of robot development in China was not late. It’s just that the period of rapid growth began around 2009, which has led to a public misconception,” Yao stated. He provided data to illustrate this surge: installation volume was 5,500 units in 2009, which skyrocketed to 57,000 units by 2015—a tenfold increase. The slow development in the last century and the current rapid growth are closely related to the stages of China’s industrial and manufacturing development.
He explained that in the 1980s, Japan was undergoing industrial transformation and upgrading, shifting its focus from heavy industries like shipbuilding and steel to automobiles, home appliances, and electronics. This transformation, which changed production methods and created labor shortages, generated demand for automation to liberate workers from simple, repetitive, and poor-condition jobs. The fundamental purpose of using robots is to enhance productivity, increase industrial automation, and thereby complete this industrial upgrade.
The first decade of this century was a golden period for China’s industrial development and its machinery equipment manufacturing sector, which saw a tenfold expansion. By 2009, China had become the world’s largest manufacturing nation, but bottlenecks such as a weak foundation, being “big but not strong,” and weak innovation capabilities became increasingly apparent. Consequently, the state embarked on efforts to transform and upgrade traditional manufacturing, find growth directions for emerging industries, and scale up industrial development.
“Against this backdrop, where original production methods could no longer meet development needs, there was a requirement to upgrade equipment. This drove the development of automation, digitalization, informatization, and intelligence. Therefore, the great development of robots is coming at just the right time,” Yao remarked. He believes the industry’s early slow growth was due to insufficient demand. Now, driven by the needs of industrial transformation and upgrading, the China robot industry is in a period of high-speed growth, developing at a pace perceptible to all.
Robot Deployment Aims to Enhance Safety and Productivity
The growth of robots is intrinsically linked to their fundamental nature. “The fundamental starting point for developing robots is to increase labor productivity and liberate the workforce,” Yao Zhiju emphasized. He clarified that “robot replacement” does not arbitrarily substitute machines for humans. Instead, it aims to liberate people from tasks they cannot perform, perform poorly, or are unwilling to do, allowing them to engage in work more suited to human capabilities.
He elaborated further: Hazardous conditions such as deep underground, deep water, or nuclear islands fall into the category of tasks “humans cannot do.” Work in these environments requires robots to take over. Following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, robots were deployed to the front lines. Furthermore, the widespread application of robots in automobile manufacturing is related to their ability to perform tasks “humans do poorly.” Automobile manufacturing involves extensive welding operations where the consistency required is difficult to achieve manually. Robots can perform welding with stable precision according to the same requirements, ensuring consistent product quality. Additionally, on assembly lines for electronics and home appliances, people repeating the same motion from morning till night goes against human nature—these are tasks “people are unwilling to do.” “This is the fundamental reason why Foxconn initially proposed using a million robots to address employee management challenges,” Yao noted.
“Some may worry about employment issues. In reality, enterprises using robots do not negatively impact employment rates,” Yao asserted. He cited the example of Japan in the 1980s, which extensively used robots yet saw its employment rate actually increase. As labor productivity significantly improved, people were freed from simple, repetitive labor and, through vocational training, moved into more creative work. In contrast, Britain, facing opposition from unions and laborers, resisted robot adoption, which ultimately affected the development of its competitive industries, and employment rates did not rise but fell. The bankruptcies of several major U.S. automakers were also related to their refusal to adopt advanced equipment. Germany, another automotive manufacturing powerhouse, presents a stark contrast to the United States. “Therefore, I believe the relationship between robots and humans is one of cooperation and collaboration, aimed at making production safer, product quality more assured, and enterprise efficiency better—not simply replacing people,” Yao concluded.
Achieving Safe Production Through Human-Robot Collaboration
While the use of robots can rescue people from dangerous working conditions, Yao Zhiju also cautioned: “Robots are equipment, and any equipment carries the potential for danger.” He explained that in past automobile production lines, robots were typically enclosed by fences according to safety requirements to prevent them from causing harm to nearby workers during operation. However, with industrial development, robots are now required to perform more dexterous and collaborative tasks with humans, leading to modern robots being smaller, lighter, and less amenable to traditional fencing.
“As more enterprises integrate robots into production, the opportunities for them to share workspace with humans are increasing. In assembly and handling links, it’s common for humans and robots to be in the same production area, and they are getting closer. Therefore, the safety requirements are also becoming higher,” he stated.
Regarding safety in production, Yao introduced: “Technically, enabling collaborative work between humans and robots is no longer a major issue. Once a robot makes contact with a person, it can automatically stop to avoid causing injury.” However, he further mentioned that due to the gap between actual production sites and robot R&D test environments, human-robot collaboration within the China robot sector is still largely at the laboratory research level. Unlike R&D testing, actual production involves many unforeseen circumstances. For instance, production sites have various electromagnetic radiation; in such compatibility environments, can the robot accurately judge safety distances? Can the sensing devices function normally? These aspects require validation in real production settings and are difficult to simulate fully during the testing phase. Therefore, this technology currently sees only零星 application, with complete isolation between humans and machines still prevalent in most practical production scenarios.
Nevertheless, Yao Zhiju remains convinced that the future trend for the China robot industry is human-robot collaboration. He believes addressing the aforementioned challenges requires efforts in two key areas. First, it is necessary to formulate standards adapted to new development requirements, and testing methods must further adapt to and simulate various environments. Second, since most enterprises lack the motivation or capability to simulate all possible scenarios, establishing public third-party institutions to undertake this work is essential. These bodies would feed safety production requirements and standards back to R&D and manufacturing enterprises.
Yao shared Japan’s approach to managing robot safety, which emphasizes the safety of human-robot interaction through a dedicated Robot Safety Center. During the R&D phase, companies submit their designs and specifications to this center for review. The center provides feedback based on safety requirements, prompting design improvements and integrating safety considerations from the outset. Furthermore, related service institutions participate in testing during subsequent production and usage phases. Learning from such international experience, in March 2015, four Chinese ministries—including the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology—jointly guided the establishment of the National Robot Testing and Assessment Center (NRAC). The center’s functions encompass testing, standards, certification, training, international exchange and cooperation, and information services, and it is slated for completion in 2017.
Using Standards to Safeguard China Robot Production Safety
Regarding safety management in robot production, Yao Zhiju believes that some of the existing equipment management methods used by enterprises can be applied to robot management, such as establishing safety distances. However, as the working distance between machines and humans decreases, there is a lack of experience in preventing the new risks that arise. This necessitates the development of new standards and specifications.
According to Yao, there are three main gaps in China’s industrial robot standards. First, there are few safety standards specifically dedicated to and closely related to robots; most are general standards and are often outdated. Second, currently, there are only standards for painting processes. Standards for more widely used welding, handling, and assembly robots remain to be developed. Third, determining whether a robot is safe requires testing, but there is a lack of comprehensive testing standards.
Furthermore, standards are significantly lacking for robots used in special applications, such as explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) robots or nuclear power plant inspection robots, as this is a relatively new field.
Yao also noted that the majority of China’s current robot standards are translations of international standards, many of which date back to 2009 or earlier. These standards can also suffer from issues of incompatibility with local conditions. Therefore, a crucial task for the NRAC is the revision and development of relevant standards for the China robot ecosystem.
State-Owned Enterprises Should Support the Development of the China Robot Industry
After discussing safety, Yao Zhiju expressed concerns about the development of the domestic robot industry. Due to perceptions, there is often a belief that domestic China robot products lag far behind foreign brands in technology, leading to reluctance in their adoption. “There is a gap; that must first be acknowledged. But the gap is not as large as many imagine. In many scenarios, domestically produced ones can actually be used,” Yao argued.
He cited the example of South Korea, where the robot industry started much later than in China, and its initial robot quality was also unstable. “But this is a paradox: if you don’t use them, you cannot obtain application data. Without application data, you cannot improve the design and production. Consequently, your product can never advance,” Yao explained. “They must be used; improvement comes through usage. Yet, our domestic enterprise users are often unwilling to use them. This is an issue of government guidance and the usage environment—a fundamental problem.”
Yao believes the government can guide enterprises in choosing domestic robots in two ways.
- Direction for State-Owned Enterprises and Subsidized Projects: There should be a guiding principle for using domestic equipment in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and projects receiving government financial subsidies. “Some experts in the automotive industry say, ‘If domestic robots are used and cause production interruption, the losses could be significant.’ That is a reality. But as state-owned enterprises or projects receiving state subsidies, they bear the responsibility of developing the national industry,” Yao stated. He believes that while private enterprises make their own choices, SOEs and subsidized projects should not use state funds to outright reject purchasing and using domestic equipment. In fact, private and civilian enterprises are often the ones more willing to purchase and use domestically produced China robot products, as they consider production costs and find advantages in the cost-performance ratio and service of domestic options. “State-owned enterprises should support the development of the domestic robot industry, but in reality, this is often not the case. In many projects I have reviewed, there are instances where entities use state subsidies but ignore domestic equipment. Some even purchase and use foreign equipment again after inspections,” he added.
- Providing Public Services: Yao also believes the government can provide public services in areas such as standards, testing, and common technology R&D. Establishing the NRAC is a significant step in this direction.
There are precedents in China for improving the safety and stability of domestic robots through application. Yao recalled that in the early 1990s, the production line of Huachen Jinbei used a mobile robot independently developed by the Shenyang Institute of Automation (SIA) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. At that time, this robot was merely a laboratory product, far from industrialized. However, with the production line ready and suitable mobile robots unavailable from abroad, the enterprise purchased and began using this domestic equipment to avoid delaying production. Initial problems arose due to differences between the lab environment and operators versus actual production. To facilitate debugging and improvement, SIA dispatched technical personnel to the production workshop. Within three to four months, the product became largely stable and mature. “This mobile robot developed precisely because there was an application opportunity at the time. It was then promoted across various domestic automobile factories, and now even American companies like General Motors and Ford use their products. If you don’t give them a chance, they will never develop well. This is a situation that must change,” Yao emphasized.
Bridging the Gap for Robots in Safety-Critical Applications
Regarding the work of the China Robot Industry Alliance (CRIA) in the field of occupational safety, Yao Zhiju said, “We are currently conducting research on the demand for using robots in the occupational safety field.” During communication with the Planning and Technology Department of the former State Administration of Work Safety in 2015, Yao expressed the hope that safety regulators could provide feedback on the needs and requirements for robots in this field. The alliance could then organize robot manufacturers to research and develop corresponding products based on these needs. “The current research is not yet comprehensive. The next step requires further communication and exchange with the relevant safety regulatory authorities.”
Furthermore, the alliance has collected some international application cases. “We believe these can be used for demonstration applications domestically and then promoted nationwide.” CRIA has gathered specific examples of robots used in environments with high dust or involving hazardous substance emissions. “This concerns the safety and health of hundreds of thousands of workers. We believe robots can completely replace humans in these areas. The technology is already mature and has been applied.” The alliance is compiling summaries of demonstration applications, hoping to promote them within the industry and collaborate with safety regulatory authorities to advance their adoption.
“The work of ‘replacing people with machinery and reducing personnel through automation’ is underway, with research being conducted in coal and metal mines. However, there is still a lack of specific enterprise applications, so the alliance’s understanding of demand in these fields remains limited. Yet, in areas like ceramic sanitary ware, foundry processes, and furniture manufacturing, specific applications and collaborations with robots have begun and can be promoted,” Yao noted.
As an industry organization, Yao believes: “The alliance mainly serves as a platform, providing various services to all parties on this platform. Government, enterprises, and related institutions can use this platform to understand each other’s information needs.”
With the start of a new planning period, Yao Zhiju sees two key tasks for society to promote the use of robots in occupational safety. First is conducting pilot demonstrations and application promotion. In this process, competent authorities have the obligation and capability to organize numerous on-site exchange meetings and related activities to promote good, new production applications. Second, in many areas of occupational safety where robots are not yet applied, understanding the specific needs and conducting targeted R&D urgently requires close communication and joint efforts from all relevant parties. “This is not something that user enterprises in coal or metal mines can do alone, nor can robot manufacturing enterprises accomplish it behind closed doors. It requires cooperation between both sides. Therefore, it is recommended that relevant government departments and industry organizations take the lead,” he suggested. He believes platforms for communication can be established through various venues, such as on-site exchange meetings and exhibitions, allowing supply and demand sides to communicate and understand each other’s requirements.
“China’s robotics development plan mentions how to creatively meet application demands in subdivided fields like disaster rescue and occupational safety, form demonstrations, and promote them. Faced with the wave of development in the robot industry and the state’s high emphasis on work safety, I believe different departments can join hands and cooperate closely,” Yao concluded.