Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    IT’S true at the China Hi-Tech Fair that where there’s a robot, there’s a crowd.

    Moreover, unlike at previous fairs where mainly robots made in other places were hailed, Shenzhen-made robots for various daily uses were given significant attention at this year’s fair.

    Three industrial robots made by Shenzhen HNC Robotic, each weighing 800 kg, put 12 squares together with their giant arms to form the fair forum’s stage background at the opening ceremony as an innovative way to kick off the fair Sunday.

    More than 100 Shenzhen robot makers displayed robots used for education, cleaning, catering, recreation and manufacturing at the fair.

    They have a presence at almost every exhibition hall, Huang Kaisheng with Shenzhen Robotics Association told Shenzhen Daily on Monday.

    At Hall 5, 41.8-cm-tall humanoid robots, called Alphas, created by Union Brothers (China) Ltd., played soccer games and danced to the pop song “Little Apple,” while kids wowed at the robotic toys of Shenzhen Inspiration Culture Communication Co.

    Robots made by Shenzhen Okagv moved heavy bags before serving guests dishes while chatting with them at Hall 1.

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    A bike-riding robot, Murata Boy, and a unicycle-riding robot, Murata Girl, made by Murata (China) Investment Co., which hadn’t shown up at the fair’s past three sessions, climbed slopes in a demonstration at Hall 2.

    “Foreign-made robots are expensive and average Chinese families can’t afford them,” said Xiao Manyi, assistant to Union Brothers’ president. “Even if they can afford them, it’s not an easy job for them to learn how to use these robots. Shenzhen’s robot makers lowered the prices of their robots for daily use through their own research and made them more user-friendly.”

    Xiao said they will unveil an updated Alpha in January in Las Vegas. The newer version will better serve users by connecting Alpha to the Internet.

    Shenzhen is rising a base for robot manufacturing and research, according to Qiu He, deputy secretary general of the association. The output of the 92 Shenzhen Robotics Association members is expected to exceed 2.5 billion yuan (US$407 million) this year.

    Mick Millington, a manager of MIITech Services, an Australian firm, was looking for robots used for education. He told the Shenzhen Daily yesterday that he’s planning to buy from two Shenzhen firms.

    “What I’m seeing here is at least one or two years ahead of the tech sector in Finland,” said Esko Ala-Peijari, IT secretary general of Finland’s CSC-IT Center For Science Ltd. “When I first attended this fair four years ago, I saw people use big mobile phones and tablets, I was awed as people in Finland were still using the very small Nokia phones. This year’s fair impressed me with the wide range of robots.”