BEIJING, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) — International experts at the ongoing 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing have praised China’s leading role in the global robotics industry and projected strong growth ahead.
Jeff Burnstein, president of the U.S.-based Association for Advancing Automation, predicted continued expansion in China’s robotics sector.
“China is the largest user of traditional robots globally, and if the humanoid market develops as anticipated, more humanoid robots will appear due to investments driving innovation,” he said.
Burnstein emphasized the role of robotics in transforming rather than replacing jobs. “The robots do the dull, dirty, dangerous jobs, which help people do higher-paying, safer, better jobs,” he said.
He described the conference as “a showplace for the future of humanoid robots,” noting that visitors of all ages — especially children — have been captivated by the machines.
The five-day conference opened on Friday and features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, gathering over 200 robotics companies from around the world. Exhibitors at the WRC expo are showcasing the latest humanoid robots, along with wheeled robots, collaborative robots, quadruped and hexapod robotic dogs, and newly developed embodied intelligence models.
Events like this, Burnstein said, foster collaboration, spark innovation and help align industry stakeholders around shared goals.
Massimiliano Zecca, a professor at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom, highlighted China’s manufacturing dominance, saying it is “clearly the world’s largest manufacturer” with exceptional capabilities in building robots. He said he has witnessed this firsthand, noting that companies debut multiple new models at the event each year.
Zecca called for cooperation between China and the UK, urging joint efforts to develop open standards and shared datasets. After delivering a speech on robotics in elderly care, Zecca said the sector could serve as a test bed for collaboration between the two countries.
Juha Roening, vice president of euRobotics, called China “the biggest market for robots” due to its extensive industrial adoption. He described China’s robotics progress as “a miracle,” citing advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics.
He also called for deeper cooperation between Europe and China in the robotics supply chain. “I think there is a win-win situation if we can do the cooperative effort,” he said.
Rev Lebaredian, vice president of Omniverse and simulation technology at NVIDIA, said in a speech that China has the key elements needed to drive the next technological revolution in robotics.
China boasts the world’s largest pool of top-tier graduates in computer science and AI, while holding a distinct advantage in the development of physical-world technology, he said. This enables the country to produce robots that are both cost-effective and highly efficient — a capability unmatched by any other country.
Moreover, China’s vast manufacturing ecosystem enables not only large-scale production but also rapid deployment and iteration through real-world data collection, he added.
Themed “Making Robots Smarter, Making Embodied Agents More Intelligent,” the 2025 World Robot Conference is co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization. Enditem
(Xiong Run and Zhang Yiyi also contributed to the story)■
