TEHRAN Industries Minister Gholamreza Shafei said here on Saturday that his ministry is ready to seriously cooperate with the country's universities and the Sharif University of Technology to promote use of robots in industries. Addressing a gathering on "industrial use of robots" the minister praised Iranian university students who took the first place in the Robot World Football Championship in Stockholm. He said "this victory prompted us to pay more attention to the use of robots in the country's industries in the future." Recent statistics show that there are 340 robots for each 10,000 workforce at industry sectors in Japan and 80 robots for each 10,000 workforce in the U.S. while the shares of robots at Iranian auto making industry is not significant, said the minister.

The minister expressed hope with promotion of public culture for utilization of robots in industries, the country would be able to produce at least some 150 to 200 robots for auto sector. The minister called on Iranian universities to cooperate with the Industries Ministry to enhance the use of such complicated technology to increase production of automobiles. He promised not to spare any efforts to provide Iranian universities with financial supports.

The minister called on Iranian college students to boost production of robot toys for domestic usage and manufacture products that can be used by people from various walks of life. (IRNA)