Global industrial robot sales rose 27 percent in 2014

Robot sales in China, already the biggest market in the $9.5 billion (6.3 billion pounds) robot trade, leapt 54 percent to about 56,000 units, the IFR said, as the country catches up with industrialised rivals. Domestic Chinese robot suppliers delivered 16,000 of those 56,000, the IFR said, with foreign suppliers such as Switzerland's ABB, Germany's Kuka and Japan's Yaskawa and Fanuc supplying the rest. China has just 30 robots per 10,000 workers employed in manufacturing industri