China robot sales to almost triple by 2018: industry group

Sales of robots in China are set to almost triple by 2018, defying a slowdown in the wider economy, the International Federation of Robotics said on Friday. China is trying to modernize its industrial production and has identified robotics as a major area for growth amid labor shortages and fast-rising wages.   The world's second-largest economy still has far lower robot penetration than other big industrialized economies - just 36 per 10,000 manufacturing workers versus 478 in South Korea,