A total of eight robotics projects will be carried out in Zhengyu town, a robot-themed town located in Haimen, Nantong, East China’s Jiangsu province, according to local media.

The robot-themed town, whose economy is centered on the R&D, manufacture, sale, and servicing of robots, as well as building robot applications, has lofty goals for the future, with plans to host a national robot testing center, a national scientific and technological innovation industrialization center, a national artificial intelligence program, a permanent meeting site for forums on robot integration and development, and a national robot training center.

The town’s robot industry is expanding from manufacturing core components to building welding robots, construction robots, and logistics robots.

The rapid growth of the robot industry has improved the town's industrial economy. From January to April, industrial enterprises above a designated size achieved 1.237 billion yuan ($179 million) in taxable sales, a year-on-year increase of 53.2 percent.

Industrial robot core components produced by Nantong Zhenkang Welding Electromachinery Co, a company based in Zhengyu town, have a commanding domestic market share of over 70 percent. The company’s core R&D capabilities and production technology are among the best in the world, and it has gained recognition from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

A project related to complex curved wall structure friction stir welding robot technology and related systems carried out by the company was listed as a key "smart robot" project in the national key research and development plan.

According to Guo Xiaomin, mayor of Haimen, Haimen city has already established a comprehensive robotics ecosystem. The city leads China in terms of the robotics industrial chain, market demand, and innovative resource allocation. Its robots account for more than 50 percent of the national market share.

In addition, Haimen is partnering with the Tsinghua University Intelligent Welding Robot R&D Center and Shanghai Jiaotong University to establish a cooperation platform for government, industry, and research in the near future.

An aerial view of Zhengyu town, located in northeastern Haimen city [Photo/people.com.cn]

An industrial robot [Photo/Wechat account of Haimen Fabu]