Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co. Ltd. is eyeing to build a new factory that will house its industrial robot production, reported China Daily.
The company, China's biggest beverage manufacturer, is betting big on robotics research and development on the back of the country's move to boost domestic intelligent manufacturing.
"Besides sticking to our main business of beverages, we will largely develop intelligent manufacturing to promote our company's business transformation and upgrading," said Wahaha Chairman Zong Qinghou in an interview with the news website.
The company is also negotiating with various groups from Israel to create a technology transfer center in the city of Hangzhou. In return, the alliance will assist Israel in finding an audience for its smart technologies in China.
The entrance of robots into the manufacturing sector has taken a new face in the form of smarter and more mobile models. Gone are the days when the idea of a robot is limited within the ability to switch facial expressions or do tricks on command.
Now, these machines are equipped to adapt to the environment, thanks to big innovations in artificial intelligence
The Wall Street Journal reported that robots "promise to bring major changes to the factory floor, as well as potentially to the global competitive landscape."
It noted that the latest line of robots to enter factories today can "work alongside humans without endangering them and help assemble all sorts of objects, as large as aircraft engines and as small and delicate as smartphones."
WSJ even foresees a future where working robots would no longer need the supervision of humans.
Wahaha's recent venture is part of its plan to build about 2,000 industrial robots over the next four years. Aside from this, the company also plans to have "50 digital workshops, 300 intelligent manufacturing demonstration projects, 100 industrial Internet of Things demonstration projects and 10 intelligent factories," according to a Hangzhou Weekly report.