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China should quicken its pace in setting industrial standards for robotics manufacturing, as the lack of safety regulations may pose potential hazards to humans, experts say.

“The development of service robots has already become a new trend. Such robots will directly serve humans, which means a high standard for safety and mechanical capacity should be imposed on the robotics industry,” said Fan Jianping, head of the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, to Xinhua News Agency.

Fan’s remarks came after a robot named “Little Chubby” malfunctioned and sent a bystander to the hospital during the Hi-tech Fair held in Shenzhen earlier this month. Though the organizer of the fair claimed that the problem was caused by human error, the incident has nevertheless incited public concerns about the safety and quality of robots.

“The incident has revealed the problem caused by a lack of industrial standards. Currently, China’s robotics manufacturing industry is still in an exploratory stage. There are no specific regulations to tackle problems and hazards created by robots,” Fan said.

Echoing Fan, other experts also noted that, due to China’s growing elderly population, robots may soon be deployed to care for elderly citizens. For that reason and others, safety hazards cannot be tolerated.

The robotics industry in China has developed swiftly in recent years. According to Xinhua, the industry scale in Shenzhen alone will reach 30 to 50 billion RMB in the next decade.