YANCHENG, Dec 14 (AFP): In a light-filled workshop in eastern China, a robotic arm moved a partially assembled autonomous vehicle as workers calibrated its cameras, typical of the incremental automation being adopted even across smaller factories in the world's manufacturing powerhouse.
China is already the world's largest market for industrial robots, and the government is pouring billions of dollars into robotics and artificial intelligence to boost its presence in the sector.
The first essentially humanless factories are already in operation, even as widespread automation raises questions about job losses as well as the cost and difficulty of transition for smaller and medium-sized companies.
The answer for many is a hybrid approach, experts and factory owners told AFP.
At the autonomous vehicle workshop, manager Liu Jingyao told AFP that humans are still a crucial part of even technologically advanced manufacturing.
"Many decisions require human judgement," said Liu, whose company Neolix produces small van-like vehicles that transport parcels across Chinese cities.
"These decisions involve certain skill-based elements that still need to be handled by people."
At the Neolix factory, 300 kilometres (186 miles) north of Shanghai, newly built driverless vehicles zoomed around a testing track simulating obstacles including puddles and bridges.
In a closed-off room, workers assembled vehicles' "brains", testing their cameras and computer chips.
"Automation... primarily serve(s) to assist humans, reducing labour intensity rather than replacing them," Liu said.
But Ni Jun, a mechanical engineering expert at Shanghai's Jiaotong University, said China's strategy of focusing on industrial applications for AI means full automation is already feasible in many sectors.
Among others, tech giant Xiaomi operates a "dark factory"-where the absence of people means no need for lights-with robotic arms and sensors able to make smartphones without humans.
Ni described a "digital divide" between larger companies with the funds to invest heavily in modernisation, and smaller businesses struggling to keep up.
