????自動化正在席卷中國。最初，中國承接了全世界的大量制造任務，如今正在把這些任務外包給機器人。

????自2013年起，中國一直是全球最大的機器人設備市場。現在，這種興趣也絲毫未見消退。《華爾街日報》援引國際機器人協會的數據稱，去年中國的機械銷量同比猛增54%。明年，中國安裝的機器人設備數量預計將超過任何其他國家。

????是什么推動了這一轉型？盡管亞洲的勞動力成本仍然相對較低，但它最近一直處于上升趨勢。《商業日報》報道稱，經濟學家預計亞洲勞動力的平均工資今年將提高10%。為了降低成本，雇主開始用更便宜的機器人來代替人力。

????國際機器人協會預計，到2017年，投入使用的機器人數量將翻一番，從現在的20萬增加到40萬。另一方面，北美的機器人數量也將增加至30萬左右。

????汽車和電子工業是率先進行勞動力自動化的行業。例如，為蘋果生產iPhone的臺灣制造業巨頭富士康預計，在接下來的3年內，70%的裝配線工作將由機器人接替。國際機器人協會的一份文件這樣總結全球對機器人激增的需求：

????“這種動力主要來自亞洲，尤其是中國，以及北美地區。汽車業將繼續成為新技術的創新源頭。全球對電子產品、新產品和新生產技術的需求越來越大，會促使人們投資改善現有的生產過程，提高電器/電子工業的生產能力，尤其是在亞洲。”

????目前，中國每1萬名制造工人配備有30個工業用機器人，這一數值是2013年的兩倍。

????專家把這項指標稱作“機器人密度”。相較之下，韓國有著全球最高的機器人密度，每1萬名制造工人配備437個工業用機器人，是中國的15倍，日本是中國的11倍，德國是10倍，美國大約是3倍。

????今年1月接受國際機器人協會采訪時，ABB Robotics公司執行董事倪思德表示：“中國生產設備的自動化只是剛剛起步。從第一家外國機器人制造商落戶這里開始，我們觀察了這個市場及其發展好幾年時間。過去兩三年中，中國機器人使用數量幾乎爆炸式的迅速增長，甚至超出了我們的預計。”

????業內的觀察家認為亞洲的機器人市場，如中國、韓國和其他東南亞國家等，能夠保持高速發展的態勢。國際機器人協會預測稱，“這一市場仍有巨大的潛力。”（財富中文網）

????譯者：嚴匡正

????審校：任文科

????Automation is taking China by storm. First, the country hoovered up many of the world’s manufacturing jobs, and now it is, in turn, outsourcing that work to robots.

????Since 2013, China has topped the list as the world’s biggest market for robotic machinery. That appetite is not subsiding. The country’s sales for the machines surged 54% last year compared to the year prior, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cites statistics from the International Federation of Robotics. Next year, China is poised to have installed more robotic machines than any other country, the paper reports.

????What’s driving the transition? Even though the cost of labor in Asia remains relatively low, it has been on the rise recently. Economists anticipate average wages to grow 10% this year, according to the Journal of Commerce. In order to keep costs own, employers are trading humans for cheaper robots.

????By 2017, the IFR expects the number of robots in operation to double to 400,000 from today’s 200,000. North America, on the other hand, will grow to have about 300,000.

????The automotive and electronics industries are leading the charge in workforce automation. The Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn, which supplies iPhones for Apple AAPL -0.22% , for instance, predicts that 70% of its assembly line work will be taken over by robots three years from now. As an IFR document summarizes about the explosive demand for robots worldwide:

????“Impetus will mainly come from Asia, particularly from China, and from North America. The automotive industry will continue to be the innovator for new technology. The growing global demand for electronic products, new products, and new production technologies are boosting investments in retooling of existing production processes and expanding production capacities of the electrical/electronics industry particularly in Asia.”

????At the moment, China has 30 industrial robots for every 10,000 manufacturing workers—about double what it had in 2013.

????Experts refer to this figure “robot density.” In comparison, South Korea has the world’s highest robot density at 437 robots per 10,000 manufacturing workers, which is about 15 times greater than China’s. Japan’s is about 11 times greater than China’s; Germany’s is 10 times higher; and the United States’ is about three times higher.

????“The automation of China’s production plants has just started”, ABB Robotics managing director Per Vegard Nerseth told IFR in January. “As the first foreign robot manufacturer to arrive here, we have observed the market and developments for years now. We have witnessed swift, almost explosive growth over the last two or three years, surpassing even our expectations.”

????Industry watchers are expecting major growth to continue in Asian markets such as China, Korea, and other Southeast Asian countries. As the IFR forecasts, “The potential for robot installations in this market is still tremendous.”