Xuan Ganhua, an official with the local robotics industry area in Shunde, said that the 20,000-square-meter-plus complex will provide robot makers and developers with a place to exhibit and sell their latest models.
"It will incorporate robot sales and exhibitions as well as labs where industrial robots are designed, programmed and built," Xuan said.
He added that the center is also expected to become a venue where developers will be able to deal with and research China's homegrown robotics industry.
Xuan was echoed by Yang Yang, general manager of Changsha Chaint Robotics Co., Ltd, who specifically stressed the importance of China launching this project.
"The supermarket will be conducive to the development of the robotics industry in China because it will bring the world’s latest technology into one platform," Yang pointed out.
Xuan Ganhua, for his part, explained that robots at the Foshan center will be used in a variety of industrial sectors, to make automobiles, furniture and machine tools, and that an intellectual property rights court will also be located on the premises.
Meanwhile, He Minjia, General Manager of the Guangzhou company GSK CNC Equipment Co., Ltd., has billed the "robot supermarket" as a place that "gives companies from home and abroad a chance to compete and learn from each other."
According to Xunhua, China is set to purchase around 400,000 industrial robots by 2017, whereas only 56,000 such robots were sold in the Chinese market last year.