China robot makers flock to Beijing show, seek path to mass adoption

Following its successful IPO, which was more than 8,000 times oversubscribed by retail investors, startup Lumos Robotics and the robotics division of China's largest auto exporter Chery Automobile 9973.HK told Reuters they were also considering stock market listings.

At the conference's opening ceremony, Xin Guobin, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, pledged support for the sector's development, saying robotics had already become "an important force" in China's economic and social development, state-backed financial news outlet Cailianshe reported.

While robots in China are increasingly being deployed for tasks such as hotel food deliveries and on some assembly lines, large-scale adoption beyond pilot projects remains limited.

Startup Robotera displayed a slick demonstration of a parcel-sorting humanoid robot torso on a wheeled tripod base at the show. The robots have a continuous running time of 900 to 1,000 hours, and are 85% as effective as a human worker, a sales representative told Reuters.