(Photo : Reuters) Researchers at a Hong Kong university have developed a cloud-based Artificial Intelligence technology named 'Zara the Supergirl.'


In the foreseeable future, China looks to fill out its workforce with robots, displacing Chinese workers.



Factory owners in China are finding increasing difficulty in maintaining their workplaces. The number of workers are decreasing and wages for the meager workforce are on the rise.



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Moreover, strikes are becoming a common occurrence in China and factories in Southeast Asia are attracting more investors with the allure of even cheaper labor.



The popular move now being taken is to purchase numerous robots to fill out the workforce.



The International Federation of Robotics reported that China has bought 56,000 out of 227,000 purchased worldwide in 2014.



All signs point to China just getting started toward the path to automated labor, as the government of Guangdong Province recently announced a three-year program to subsidize the purchase of nearly 2,000 robots.



The announcement of the program is a significant one as Guangdong stands as one of China's largest manufacturers. Guangdong aims to have 80 percent of their factories using robots by 2020.



The Chinese government has long wanted to shift toward an automated workforce, in effect shifting from manually assembled low quality items to high value ones that require the precision of machines such as cars, appliances, and electronics.



Apart from that though, the decision was made due to the rapid urbanization of the country, population control policies, and cultural shifts that have pushed China's birth rates down.



While buying robots makes sense in an economic sense, it would mean that companies and factories will begin letting go of people they don't need.



Major air-conditioner manufacturer Midea is set to cut 6,000 of its 30,000 workers in 2015, and another 4,000 by 2018.



The Chinese government understands the implications of the incoming automated workforce, as well as the plight of their citizens.



In response, they have committed to expanding vocational education in China so low-skill workers will be able to join in the economy.




TagsRobots, Automated workforce, Displacing workers