Robots are set to do more of China's dirtiest jobs
China is expected to become the world's No 1 customer for industrial robots. They'll do the tasks that a shrinking workforce won't touch
In China, there's no better time to be a robot. Pictures from this month's International Industry Fair in Shanghai show them duelling with light sabres, playing ping-pong and performing Chinese lion dances, fully costumed up. One shows a female humanoid robot in a white woollen coat shaking hands with a visitor.
China has many reasons to embrace industrial robotics. Robots can improve energy efficiency and perform tasks that would prove impossibly complex for even the best-trained humans. But the most important reasons are shifting demographics and basic economics: China's working-age population is shrinking, sending labour costs spiralling upwards.
"There aren't many young workers coming off the streets to fill jobs at factories. That's why you're seeing factory wages going up, and factories struggling to hire trained staff," said Geoff Crothall, a spokesman for the Hong Kong-based NGO China Labour Bulletin.
"It's not surprising that you'd see greater focus on greater automation of production."
China's growing affluence and family-planning laws have had dramatic effects on its workforce. Improved medical care has enabled older generations to live longer, and the one-child policy has effectively capped the younger generation's size.