Harbin is trying hard to develop its smart manufacturing with sensors, intelligent control systems, industrial robots and automated production lines, according to local authorities, who say they are selecting candidates for the first pilot projects.

This will provide a good foundation for the use of robots to replace humans for some tedious, routine drudge work in manufacturing, especially pharmaceuticals and automobiles. It will also encourage enterprises to cooperate and form industrial clusters, with subsidies for enterprises that innovate and develop robots.

Harbin has key national robotics laboratories in the Harbin Institute of Technology and Harbin Engineering University and a robot industrial park and 57 companies in the business. And its seven leading smart equipment manufacturers had a gross output value of 904 million yuan ($141.3 million), in the first seven months of this year, for a year-on-year increase of 18.7 percent.

Last year it had annual revenues of 1.25 billion yuan from robotics, and from 2008 to 2013, the industry saw a 20-percent annual increase in revenues.