(Yicai Global) May 11 -- Zhangjiang Science City in Shanghai's Pudong district has become a cluster of top innovative medical robotics firms.

Zhangjiang has become home to many medical device firms, and they have formed a sound industrial backdrop for the area's medical robotics industry to develop and make innovative rehabilitation, surgery, and vascular interventional robots, according to Wang Tao, who is in charge of the Zhangjiang Robotic Valley project.

More than 80 robotics companies and institutions, covering 4.2 square kilometers, have gathered in Zhangjiang over the past two years, and have an annual industrial output value of CNY22.1 billion (USD3.2 billion).

Zhangjiang Robotic Valley focuses on developing high-end medical, industrial, and service robots, and key parts and control software, Wang noted. Some firms in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain have originated in or moved to Zhangjiang, led by Swiss industrial giant ABB Group, he added.

Developing rehabilitation robots needs international exports, and Pudong attracts the globe's top engineering and scientific research talents, Yang Zhihang, director of rehabilitation innovation products at Shanghai-based Fourier intelligence, told Yicai Global. They can provide creative ideas and technologies for companies to develop products faster, Yang noted.

The Yangtze River Delta region’s supply chain is complete, making it efficient for firms to communicate with each other and cut time and costs when developing new products, Yang pointed out. The region is developed and populous and provides rehabilitation robot makers with more potential clients, including top hospitals and grassroots community health service centers, Yang added.

There are some leading and innovation benchmark firms among developers of medical, industrial, and service robots in Zhangjiang Robot Valley, and the next step is to further enlarge the size of the industry, according to Wang. It will likely grow to CNY70 billion by 2025, including 150 core companies and 10 listed firms, Wang noted.

Robots developed by Chinese firms can be found in the exhibition halls of the valley, such as the one which performed China's first prostate surgery, Yicai Global found. Displayed are also vascular surgical robots, brain-computer interface robots used in rehab from nervous system diseases, and rehabilitation robots that help patients with walking.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev