HANGZHOU - China's robotics industry saw steady development in 2017 with about 1,686 robotics companies established last year, according to a report released at the ongoing 5th China Robot Summit.

By the end of 2017, the number of robotics companies in China exceeded more than 6,500, mainly located in China's Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, said the report.

In 2017, the global robotics industry market reached $23.2 billion, with annual growth of 17 percent between 2012 and 2017.

China became the largest market for industrial robots in 2013. In 2017, sales of China's industrial robots hit $4.22 billion, up 24 percent year on year, while sales of service robots totaled $1.32 billion, up 28 percent year on year.