Robionix calls for Pakistan-China robotics partnership

MG News August 18, 2026 (MLN): Pakistan and China could deepen industrial collaboration in robotics manufacturing, with joint laboratories, localisation-focused joint ventures and long-term engineer training seen as ways to close Pakistan's gap in precision component manufacturing, according to a Pakistani robotics firm. Awais Yasin, founder and CEO of Robionix Technologies, made the call in a written interview with China Economic Net (CEN), saying the country can already design and build most of the structure, electronics, control software and vision systems for automation equipment, but lacks the manufacturing base to produce the precision parts industrial robots require, APP reported. Robionix's flagship product, MagicQC, is an AI-based garment inspection system that places a finished garment on a measurement bed, uses a camera to identify measurement points, and returns a pass or fail verdict against the buyer's order specifications. The system addresses a persistent challenge in Pakistan's textile sector, the country's largest export industry, where garments must meet precise buyer tolerances. Textile exports totalled $17.88 billion in FY25, accounting for around 56% of Pakistan's merchandise exports, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Awais Yasin said a recent MagicQC installation sourced only three major components from abroad the industrial camera, the operator touchscreen and its mounting assembly while the measurement bed, lighting, display, computer, electrical parts and integration work were all done locally. Robionix has installed its systems at factories in Karachi, Faisalabad and Sialkot, though commercial deployment remains limited. Building a robot arm presents a tougher challenge than a stationary inspection system, Awais Yasin said, since an arm must move to a point and return to it with the accuracy, repeatability, speed and reliability industrial use demands capabilities that rest on servo motors, precision encoders, harmonic or planetary gear reducers and servo drives. Pakistan currently has no local source for these components at the required precision and scale, which has kept a fully indigenous six-axis industrial robotic arm a goal he has held for years out of reach. The robot itself is not the biggest problem, he said, adding that the missing ecosystem around it is the bigger challenge. Awais Yasin, who is also a professor at the National University of Technology in Islamabad, said he observed this ecosystem firsthand while pursuing a robotics PhD at the Beijing Institute of Technology in the 2010s, where universities conducted advanced research, companies built robots, suppliers manufactured precision components and factories deployed the equipment at scale. China installed 295,000 industrial robots in 2024 alone, 54% of the global total, according to the International Federation of Robotics. By contrast, Pakistan has largely relied on importing finished automation equipment, Awais Yasin said. He noted the gap has narrowed in awareness, research and startup activity but remains wide at the level of industrial scale and component manufacturing. Given China's established production base in motors, reducers and controllers, Chinese suppliers could serve as potential partners, he said starting with localising integration and manufacturing, then progressing toward domestic production of critical parts, with Pakistani engineers training and building alongside their Chinese counterparts.