Japan's robots will lose ground to foreign advances

Subject

Japan's place in the global robotics market.

Significance

Japanese companies sold industrial robots worth 555 billion yen (5.1 billion dollars) in 2016, according to the Japan Robot Association. Exports were 3.6 billion dollars, making Japan the top robotics seller in the world.

Impacts

• China’s fast rise in manufacturing plus its rising wages makes it the most important future robotics market.
• US start-ups plus the country’s strength in software makes its companies strong competitors in the new robotics markets.
• Japanese society appears to regard robots as preferable to immigrants as a solution to a shortage of workers and carers.