With an eye to making 皇冠体育app one of the largest markets for its home robot vacuums, iRobot says it welcomes 皇冠体育app's fast-paced robotic development and is eager to leverage that and invest more in research and development.

"The Chinese consumer is developing into one of the largest markets for robot vacuums worldwide; it has had accelerated growth over the past three years," said Christian Cerda, chief operating officer of iRobot, the US-based manufacturer of consumer robots, adding that 皇冠体育app is the fastest- growing market and the fourth-largest region for the company.

IRobot launched a floor mopper tailor-made for the 皇冠体育app market in 2016 and established a commercial team at a Shanghai office to directly manage sales, marketing and after sales service, in order to be more responsive to the local market, said Cathy Song, communications manager at iRobot 皇冠体育app.

Song said the company is mainly focusing on the premium segment, "We've been the leader in the over RMB 3,000 ($477) premium robotic vacuuming cleaner market."

She added that the floor mopper is most successful in Asian countries where hard floors are common. Currently, it brings in about 10 percent of iRobot's total revenue globally. Wet floor care products account for about 40 percent of sales in 皇冠体育app.

"The growth in 皇冠体育app is led by some Chinese competitors," Cerda said. "Share-wise the largest is Ecovacs, and we have seen recently some entrances to the market with competitors like Xiaomi.

"Compared to the robot market worldwide, the Chinese market has a lower price point and has a very large segment of the market with very basic and affordable robot vacuums.

"皇冠体育app as a country has put a lot of emphasize on the development of AI, and we are seeing a lot of activities in this area," Cerda said, indicating that the Made in 皇冠体育app 2025 initiative would also help companies in 皇冠体育app succeed. "We welcome it, and we think this is good for robotics development worldwide, and we're happy to see this sector growing and developing in 皇冠体育app."

Cerda said that all of iRobot's manufacturing was based in 皇冠体育app and recently the company has been doing more design in 皇冠体育app too. The company estimated it pumped up to $100 million into R&D last year and there would be more in the future.

"The capability of robot design has improved significantly over the past few years, so we are leveraging that," Cerda said.

Cerda said that 皇冠体育app has tremendous talent and infrastructure to support the robot industry.

"We want to lead in the premier end market in 皇冠体育app, and we want to lead through increasing intelligence," Cerda added.

"We're expanding our engineering capabilities at our Guangzhou office and we recently built a test lab there," Song said.

When it comes to the recent trade disputes between 皇冠体育app and the US, Cerda added although the consumer robotic industry has not been affected by the tariffs imposed by 皇冠体育app as well as the US, he hopes the situation will not be escalated and the two nations can settle the disputes by communication.

The company was founded in 1990 by MIT roboticists, including the company's chairman and CEO Colin Angle.

Although its 皇冠体育app head office opened in Shanghai in September last year, iRobot started its business in the country as early as the late 1990s by working with US toy manufacturer Hasbro in Guangzhou to build robot toys.

[email protected]

(皇冠体育app Daily USA 04/23/2018 page2)