Prof. Zvi Shiller, Chairperson of Israeli Robotics Association, gives an interview to Xinhuanet in Beijing, Aug. 22, 2017. The World Robot Conference 2017 is held in Beijing from Aug. 23 to Aug. 27.(Xinhuanet/Zhang Tianyu)
BEIJING, Aug. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- “China and Israel have been cooperating on robotics by investing in establishing mature companies,” said Prof. Zvi Shiller, Chairperson of Israeli Robotics Association.
"The robotics industry is actually at very early stages. We want to grow more companies with the assistance of Chinese market and Chinese investors ," Shiller told Xinhuanet in a recent interview during the World Robot Conference 2017.
"By increasing this form of cooperation, we can see in one or two years much bigger robotics industry that can actually produce and sell products," said Shiller.
The robotics products that interest Shiller most are the “good robots”-- robots that do good for people.
“There is one problem with robotics. People can actually do bad things with them. So I prefer robots that help people, such as consumer robots and service robots,” said Shiller.
By focusing on control systems and artificial intelligence, Shiller aims to invent smarter “good robots” that can cooperate with humans.
He made some wild guesses regarding the future.
According to Shiller, there will be a huge market for robots that assist the elderly people, because robots can help them do many things they cannot do by themselves, such as taking a shower.
“I am very optimistic about what robotics are going to bring to us,” Shiller said, “I think we have just seen the tip of the iceberg.”
“When we look around 10 or 15 years later, we will see robots around in a way that you will say ‘I could not understand how we managed to live without them,’” he added.
Shiller has high hopes for Chinese market.
“What I foresee is that the bigger market in China in the near future will be a consumer market, ” he said.
Shiller also noted that there is a large middle class in China who are fond of technology and high-tech products, and they will be very good customers for consumer robots and service robots.
Shiller is dedicated to “producing more products and creating more companies” as he has great confidence in the huge potential for cooperation between China and Israel.
