Though Japan was long considered the "robotics kingdom", China surpassed it as the largest market for industrial robots in the world in 2013, when a record-high 36,000 units were sold, Chinese media report.

Now domestic robot makers need to sharpen their edge in technological innovation to become competitive and take a bigger share of the huge market, experts said.

On average worldwide there are 55 industrial robots for every 10,000 employees, but the rate in China is just 23, according to a patent analysis report released by a research team at the State Intellectual Property Office.