Chengdu: Authorities in the sci-tech hub of Chengdu, located in southwest China, have launched their first-ever demand lists for hospital and senior care robotics during a unique job fair for robots. This groundbreaking event was organized by the Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, the civil affairs bureau, and the health commission, showcasing the city’s aspirations to become a national leader in robotics innovation while tackling labor shortages through automation.
According to Namibia Press Agency, the elderly care demand lists at the event featured 22 categories of robots, including those for daily life assistance, rehabilitation nursing, safety patrols, and emotional companionship. These involve five projects across four institutions, as noted by the municipal bureau of economy and information technology. Hospital needs spanned medical assistance, drug delivery, AI-powered diagnostics, and precision rehabilitation, covering 10 projects at nine medical centers.
Zhang Long, deputy director of the Information Department at Chengdu Seventh People’s Hospital, attended the fair with a specific request for sanitation robots. He highlighted the inefficiency of traditional manual disinfection and emphasized the need for smart devices to replace repetitive, single-task jobs, representing a broader shift towards automation in public health.
Zhang views the event as a “mutually beneficial exploration,” linking tech developers with end-users. As a “scenario builder,” he underscored Chengdu’s increasing dependence on advanced robotics, such as surgical and rehabilitation assistants, to meet growing healthcare demands. Zhang’s hospital is among nine institutions piloting robots for tasks like patient guidance and logistics. He explained that opening real-world scenarios as “testing grounds” allows for the gradual discovery of smarter robots, beginning with basic tasks like disinfection and eventually scaling to more complex roles.
Chengdu’s government is keen to accelerate this synergy. The municipal bureau of economy and information technology has plans to leverage the city’s healthcare strengths to create a “demand-driven, scenario-validated” ecosystem. The bureau previously identified 87 robotics products from 31 companies in its initial supply catalog, facilitating targeted matches at the event.
Local tech startups also took advantage of the platform to present innovative solutions. Feng Rui, chairman of a local technology company, showcased a helmet-like brain-computer interface device primarily used for autism screening. Feng expressed his desire to find more testing grounds for his company’s research and development products, stating that their products are already in use at several community health centers and that a production line in Jinjiang District is set to be operational within the year.
Meanwhile, Fan Xinhua, CEO of Buffalo Robotics (Chengdu) Technology Co., Ltd., promoted the company’s exoskeletons, which have been deployed in many of the nation’s top hospitals. The company’s new-generation brain-controlled exoskeleton, slated for a 2025 release, uses neural signals to enhance rehabilitation accuracy. Fan expressed the aim to bring these devices into communities and homes, empowering the elderly and disabled.
According to a report by the China Commercial Industry Research Institute on the development prospects of the service robot industry in China from 2025 to 2030, the market size for service robots in China was approximately 60 billion yuan (about 8.36 billion U.S. dollars) in 2023, with an average annual compound growth rate of 32.41 percent over the past five years. Analysts predict that the market size will grow to 85 billion yuan by 2025.
Backed by robust policies, Chengdu is accelerating its robotics industry with strategies that include monthly themed robotics demand and supply match fairs and “robot plus” opportunity lists. The city will also launch initiatives to crowdsource breakthroughs in core technologies while fostering collaboration among labs, manufacturers, and end-users.