[Photo by Park Sae-jin]
Chinese parts are indispensable for their excellent design and fine performance, prompting South Korean robotics companies to rely on them more and more, but many here are still obsessed with an old perception that cooperation with Chinese companies could lead to technology spills.
MD, a developer of control programs and technologies for robots, suggests South Korea's robotics industry should seek symbiotic cooperation with Chinese companies to survive in the global market.
"South Korea's robotics industry should not compete with Chinese parts makers," MD CEO Lee Jung-Cheul said in an interview on September 15 at a booth set up for the "2017 Roboworld", an international exhibition, in the exhibition complex of KINTEX in Seoul. "Instead, we should look for ways to work with them."
At Lee's booth, a pair of exoskeleton legs, which are MD's latest product used for rehabilitation therapy at hospitals and nursing homes, demonstrated its endless air-walk. The wearable robots are South Korea's first portable rehabilitation exoskeleton tool being adopted by state hospitals. MD is swamped with a wave of orders, Lee said, adding Chinese companies have supplied servos and motors, the main parts used in the joints of exoskeletons.
"We cooperate with Chinese servo and motor companies to create our product. We have core technologies and the Chinese are capable of manufacturing top-of-the-line parts," said Lee, a veteran robotics technical who has been in the industry for more than 25 years.
For five years China has kept its status as the world's largest industrial robot market, according to a report released at the 2017 World Robot Conference in Beijing in August that showed China accounted for over 30 percent of the global market. Experts at the conference estimated the service robot market would reach 1.32 billion US dollars this year, up 28 percent from a year ago.
China's latest products have become an inspiration for many technicians and engineers, Lee said. "Sometimes, we buy new products from China and open them up to study. It's just amazing how such a thing was designed and manufactured."
Regardless of how advanced technologies Chinese companies have, many South Korean companies are reluctant to cooperate with them mainly due to concerns about a technology leakage, Lee said. "Without cooperation with the Chinese, South Korea's robotics industry is doomed," he said. "It's the only way our industry can survive in the future."
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
