The robot development in China, however, didn't have an easy start. According to Cai Hegao from the Robotic Research Institute, Harbin Institute of Technology, back in 1972 a Chinese scientist, Jiang Xinsong, appealed to the Chinese Academy of Sciences for an earlier start to robotic research.

However, the research was suspended not long after it was initiated because of strong opposition from both the government and manufacturers. Critics said that robots didn't fit into China's reality as the country possessed such a large population.

Robot research resumed in 1982 when Cai returned home from a three-year academic study in the United States and suggested the country's aerospace department continue the robot research. This time Cai received support and not long afterwards he and his team created China's first arc-welding robot.

Given the country's delayed entrance into the robot research and other obstacles in terms of technology and finance, China has made some remarkable achievements in this field. These include the aquatic robot from the Shenyang Institute of Automation, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the aerial robot from the Robot Research Institute, Harbin Institute of Technology.

China's AI robot research, however, lags far behind advanced countries like the United States, Japan and Germany, said Cai, adding that the world's robot research and development are moving in two major directions: wider in application and smarter in intelligence.

Making up lost ground

In general, China's robot technology has somehow gained a foothold. However, the bottleneck in robot development here is the market, meaning the need for robot applications, said Lai Weide, a Chinese robot specialist.

The need for robots is actually generated by a fast-developing economy, allowing robot producers to make stable and inexpensive products to meet the market's demand, explained Lai. "So industrialization is the only way to cut cost and increase the quality of robot production."

With regard to industrialization, Lai said the government has a key role to play. He said China should take a leaf out of Japan's book where companies are encouraged by the government to employ robots. The Chinese Government should draw up feasible and favorable policies in terms of taxation, investment and financial credit to promote R&D and the application of robots.

Some foreign robot producers are already eyeing the Chinese market. In April 2006, ABB (Asea Brown Boveri) opened its first Chinese robot business headquartered in Shanghai. And early in 2007, the global leading power and automation technology group announced it would bring its latest robot into production in China. Up to now, ABB is the only international company that manufactures industrial robots locally.

In other fields, the market for robots is also booming. Experts at the 2007 China Interna-tional Industry Fair in Shanghai, held on November 6-10, said that service robots would enter Chinese households in three to five years.

Cao Qixin, a robot researcher from Shanghai Jiaotong University, said unlike industrial robots, China began to develop service robots at the same time as developed nations. This has resulted in a narrowing gap between China and other countries in the field of service robot technologies.

In October 2007, Chinese scientists invented the first cooking robot, named AIC-AI Cooking Robot, which can cook food with its master-cooking capabilities. The robot can fry, bake, boil and steam, and perform other special Chinese cooking actions with a mere click of a few buttons.

Huang Jianmin, an official from the Shanghai Electric Group Co. Ltd., said his group would introduce service robots to do its reception and service work at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

China's big challenge no doubt will be balancing robots and their uses with a huge labor force, but which ever way you look at it, robots are here to stay and may even contribute to a more harmonious society.