From spectacle to scale: why China’s robotics firms face a ‘critical juncture’

At China’s annual World Robot Conference (WRC) that kicked off on Wednesday, the hall was filled with humanoid robots wowing visitors with feats of dexterity: from playing table tennis to performing drum solos.

These eye-catching displays have helped China’s robotics industry win global attention – and raise huge amounts of capital – over the past couple of years.

But at this year’s summit, the overriding sentiment among executives, investors and policymakers was starkly pragmatic: the era of...