The march of the robots stalled globally last year — except, that is, in China. Sales of industrial robots in the world’s second-largest economy jumped 19 percent in 2020, according to recent data from the International Federation of Robotics, compared with a slight 2 percent decline in overall global sales. The sharp rise has consolidated China’s position as a global leader in automation: even in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the country installed more robots than the next fo