The 2017 China Robot Industry Conference was held at Southwest Chongqing's Liangjiang New Area on Dec 14.

The conference had over 1,000 attendees including worldwide renowned robot experts, government officials, industrial organizations and robotic companies.

Song Xiaogang, executive head of the China Robot Industry Alliance, said that the theme of this year's conference is "Robot Plus" and a coordinated development method between robots and information technology, communication technology, artificial intelligence and industrial application became the highlight of the discussion.

The 2017 China Robot Industry Conference is held at Southwest Chongqing's Liangjiang New Area on Dec 14. [Photo/liangjiang.gov.cn]

The robot industry has been listed as a key development area in the country's "Made in China 2025" strategy, which aims to upgrade the country's manufacturing sector, in which Chongqing is taking the lead.

Statistics released by the China Robot Industry Alliance shows that the sale of China-made industrial robots has continuously grown this year, selling a cumulative 18,519 robots in the first half year.

Liangjiang New Area signed strategic cooperation agreements with China's leading robot company Beijing CANBOT on the research and development of educational robots.

A signing ceremony is held at the 2017 China Robot Industry Conference. [Photo/liangjiang.gov.cn]

Liangjiang will also partner with Chongqing Zhongji Zhihui Education Technology Co Ltd, China Science & Technology Automation Alliance, and Tsinghua Robot Technology and Industry Collaboration Innovation Alliance to build a world-class Chongqing Robot College.

Liu Zhong, deputy director of Chongqing Economy and Informatization Committee, said that Chongqing will then put efforts on three major fields–AI technologies breakthrough, acceleration of product market application and construction of robot industrial eco-system.

Song Xiaogang, executive head of the China Robot Industry Alliance, delivers a speech at the 2017 China Robot Industry Conference. [Photo/liangjiang.gov.cn]