Company managers say they are optimistic the robot business will grow by at least 10 percent next year.

 

　　Gu Chunyuan, president of ABB Engineering Shanghai, says his company is adapting to the need.

 

　　"We see a continuous demand in the Chinese market. We will continue, of course, to ramp up our production capability, introduce new models and develop new applications, for example, for house cleaning and industrial assembly."

 

　　China has become the fastest growing robotics market in the world. Many of the country's large corporations use robots in large numbers to replace manual labor.

 

　　But according to the Automation Department of Shanghai Electric, China still lags behind the rest of the world in robotic technology.

 

　　Business insiders say one of the biggest challenges is that key robot parts almost completely rely on imports.

 

　　Figures from the International Federation of Robotics indicate that the installation of multi-role robots in China rose by 136 percent between 2008 and 2011 and continues to grow at a double-digit rate.