annual robot output top 100
Beijing's annual robot output tops 100,000
China is churning out robots. Annual production of industrial robots surpassed 100,000 for the first time -- and it only took 10 months. Shipments were up 67 percent through October compared with a year earlier, state media reported Thursday. And there's more to come: full-year output will reach 120,000 units, according to Ministry of Industry and Information Technology forecasts. China accounts for about a third of the global demand for industrial robots, which are at the core of the government's sweeping "Made in China 2025" plan to upgrade factories to be highly automated and technologically-advanced.