Robot industry and emerging technologies continue to merge

At present, the world is ushering in a new round of technological revolution. The transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing industries has released huge market potential, spurred new demand for high-tech robots, and became a new impetus for accelerating industrial development. What challenges does the robotics industry face today and what are the future trends? At the China Robot Industry Development Conference 2019 on December 9, the political, academic, and academic circles thought about the direction and method of "high-quality development of the Chinese robot industry" from different perspectives.

Robot industry and emerging technologies continue to merge

status quo

Robot is ushering in the golden period of deep optimization

Luo Junjie, deputy director of the Equipment Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that from 2016 to 2018, China's annual output of robots increased from 70,000 to 140,000, an average annual growth rate of more than 40%. In 2018, China's industrial robot installations were about 154,000 units, exceeding the number of robots in Europe and the Americas, ranking first in the world continuously, and becoming an important production base for global robots, especially the consumer market.

Among them, the density of industrial robots has increased rapidly. According to incomplete statistics, it reached 140 robots per 10,000 employees last year, three times that of 2015. At the same time, both in the industrial and service sectors, innovation capabilities have steadily improved, and new progress has been made in landmark achievements. For example, key technologies in industrial fields such as binocular vision positioning technology, flexible claw design technology, and dual-arm coordinated control technology for dual-arm robots. Public service robots implement functions such as face, voice recognition tracking, and environmental detection. Face recognition accuracy Up to 90%; some key component technologies have also made breakthroughs. In addition, in recent years, there are 82 national standards related to industrial robot recommendations, 11 industry standards, and more than 20 group standards, which initially cover some basic standards of the standard system, component standards, and system integration standards.

"Although this year, the robot industry is facing downward pressure, and some core technologies and key technology components are still subject to people, but this is exactly the golden period for the robot industry to optimize the structure and achieve healthy development." Luo Junjie said from a domestic perspective, applications The fields and scenarios are constantly expanding, and the development momentum of robots is still strong. With the advancement of intelligent manufacturing, the application of industrial robots is rapidly developing from the automotive and electronics industries to metallurgy, light industry, metal processing, petrochemicals, food and beverage, medicine, health, and other industries. Its application industry has expanded from 87 middle categories in the national economy in 2015 to 47 major categories and 129 middle categories in 2018. Especially in the ceramic sanitary ware, smelting, brewing, non-woven fabrics and other sub-fields, the application of robots has already achieved initial results. At the same time, robots in the service area extend from robots such as sweeping and cleaning in the past to education, medical care, escort, and distribution, and are gradually covering our home, shopping malls, schools, hospitals, banks, hotels and other application scenarios. With the breakthrough of key technologies such as positioning and navigation of new materials and power control, special robots have formed a product system represented by underwater robots, security inspection robots, and curtain wall cleaning robots.

Qu Daokui, chairman of the China Robot Industry Alliance, also said that despite the impact of the main application market of robots such as cars and parts, the growth rate of robots has also declined. However, based on their in-depth thinking about the industry, many industry companies are more calm and predictable in the future. They have become more mature and confident, and have found their own accurate positioning for growth and development based on their own advantages, characteristics, and locations. , More and more in line with the law of market development. At the same time, it is worth mentioning that the multi-joint robot has grown rapidly for three consecutive years, ranking first in sales, accounting for 51.7% of the total sales in the first half of the year. In addition, the share of independent brands is increasing, especially the sales of processing robots has more than doubled.

Song Xiaogang, executive director of the China Robot Industry Alliance, said that at present, handling and loading and unloading are still the main application fields of robots, especially in the automotive and electronic information industries, accounting for 60%. However, industries such as metal processing, plastics and chemistry, especially the food industry, have grown very rapidly in recent years. In addition, the number of service robots is increasing. Life, medical, special robots, agricultural robots, construction robots, etc., this potential is very large.

Zhao Jie, a professor at Harbin Institute of Technology and director of the Robotics Research Institute, elaborated on many issues facing the domestic robotics industry. In addition to the "neck neck" technology, in his view, "there is a certain misunderstanding in the development of the robot industry with Internet thinking."

Zhao Jie believes that if burning money does not improve the core competitiveness, but just sell a few more robots for a lower price, burning money does not make much sense. Many companies always want to "low-cost strategy" to make industrial robots through subsidies, loss of money, and burning money. This is a blind superstition "the power of price. The result of pursuing a low-cost strategy will make the entire industry unprofitable on a large scale.

He also said that robotics should be a multi-disciplinary integrated technology, no matter how big the enterprise is, and want to do everything, the result is that it can't be done, it can't be done, and it can't be done well. This is also a problem facing domestic robotics companies.

trend

Robot industry is converging with emerging technologies

What development trends will the robot industry present in the future? Luo Junjie said that at present, the continuous integration of robots and emerging technologies has pushed the industry into the fast track. In his view, China has a large-scale market advantage. With 5G communication, the technical integration of the Industrial Internet and robots will effectively improve the real-time nature, integrity and storage of data transmission, and greatly enhance the intelligence of robots. , Flexibility and precise control capabilities will help to greatly increase the application potential of our robots and push them into the fast lane of development.

According to the Global Robotics 2019 report released by the International Robotics Federation, IFR predicts that with continuous automation and technological improvements, double-digit growth will resume from 2020 to 2022, with an average annual rate of 12%. Robot sales will grow by 32%. The logistics industry may account for the largest share, accounting for 41% of total sales, followed by some detection and maintenance robots, which may account for nearly 40%. Sales of service robots for personal and home use will also increase by 15% to $ 3.7 billion.

Song Xiaogang also said that the China Robotics Industry Alliance has also recently made a forecast, predicting that China's industrial robot sales in 2019 will achieve a 5% increase. From 2020 to 2029, 26% of companies expect an average annual growth rate to be higher than 29%. Emerging market segments and market demand will force innovation in the robot industry. He believes that as far as the industry is concerned, it is necessary to pay attention to the market development of subdivided industries and different application scenarios, pay attention to the overall development of components and integration, including the collaborative development of sensors, and also to integrate with new technologies such as information technology, communication technology, and artificial intelligence development of.

"In the past thirty to forty years, the replacement rate was less than a few percent, and it will reach 30% in the next five to eight years. This market space is very large." Qu Daokui said that with changes in manufacturing models, such as Intelligent and intelligent manufacturing, Industry 4.0, and the interconnection of all things have a crowding-out effect on the human labor force. Future trends and directions, including historical development data, China's industrial robots will enter a large explosion period. At the same time, Chinese companies, especially latecomers, are facing a period of significant technological opportunities, including AI, perception, network, data, including edge computing, new materials, etc., which will be a good time to "overtake the curve". And various new robots in the future will need scenarios to trial and error iterate, and China's huge market is also a unique advantage.

Zhao Jie believes that 2019 will be the transition year for Chinese robots. In the next 10-15 years, the global robotics industry will be reshaped, and the rise of China ’s robotics industry will become an important force in the new global competition landscape of the global robotics industry. Service robots will become an important battlefield for the world's robot powers to compete for the dominance of emerging industries. The status of special robots is extremely prominent, and it will become an important means for the world's robot powers to check and balance each other.

Suggest

How to promote high-quality development of the robot industry?

Luo Junjie, deputy director of the Equipment Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, talked about his three points on "advancing the high-quality development of the robot industry" at the meeting:

The first is to pay attention to the use of new development concepts to promote the coordinated development of industrial innovation. He said that we must pay attention to open cooperation and green coordinated development, strengthen "introduction" and "going global", actively carry out international exchanges, promote vertical and horizontal cooperation in the industrial chain, accelerate the establishment of a complete industrial innovation system, strengthen research and development investment, and continuously improve technology, Model innovation capabilities, accelerate the development and promotion of high-end industrial robots, service robots, and special robots.

The second is to focus on strengthening basic capabilities and improving the modernization level of the industrial chain. Luo Junjie said that it is necessary to accelerate breakthroughs in core technologies such as high-precision reducers for robots, high-speed high-performance controllers, high-performance servo motors and drives, sensors, and operating systems; strengthen the research and development of basic common technologies for robots, and break through human-computer interaction, compliance control, Cutting-edge technologies such as functional bionics and intelligent perception; should be guided by market demand, strengthen collaboration between ontology companies, component companies, integrators and user companies, and promote close collaboration in all aspects of product development, component matching, manufacturing, and application implementation , Integrated development, and win-win cooperation, and build a robot technology integration and innovation ecosystem.

The third is to focus on improving quality brands and improving the sustainable development of the industry. For example, we need to further promote the improvement of robot standards and testing and certification systems.

Zhu Sendi, Honorary Director of the Expert Committee of the China Machinery Industry Federation, Member of the National Manufacturing Strategy Advisory Committee, and Director of the Intelligent Manufacturing Expert Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that integration is an important path for manufacturing digitalization, and integration is the core of intelligent manufacturing. For the robot industry, synergy and win-win situation should be achieved in particular: "five integrations": first, the robot industry and the emergence of so many new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, etc .; second, the robot industry must Integrate with the areas where it works and services, such as the automotive industry and metal products industry; the third is the integration of intelligent manufacturing, intelligent transformation, and digital transformation that are currently being vigorously promoted; the fourth is the composition of the robot industry itself with various technologies, There are key components, as well as the integration of systems and other aspects; the fifth is to integrate with people to create robots that are harmonious and cooperative.

Zhu Sendi said that Chongqing, as a traditional industrial town, has obvious advantages in automobiles, electronics, and metallurgy. It must first be integrated with these industries and then continue to other industries. Second, we must focus on integration with new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing to form the cluster effect of intelligent manufacturing.

planning

The next step is to promote the combination of soft and hard robots and human-machine integration.

Kuang Jian, chief engineer of the Chongqing Economic and Information Commission, introduced that Chongqing has seized the opportunity of robots and initially formed a robot intelligent equipment industry chain that integrates research and development, machine manufacturing, system integration, component matching, and application services, breaking the ontology structure, etc. More than 300 key technologies, successfully developed more than 40 robots such as six joints of construction, built ten industries such as stamping and electronic assembly, 100 automated demonstration lines, took the lead in establishing the first robot financing company in China, and successfully created capital + market + research and development Industrial ecological chain.

He said that in the next step, Chongqing will integrate software and hardware, and human-machine integration, focusing on the following three aspects. The first is to promote breakthrough development of technology, promote the solubility of artificial intelligence such as robotics, and accelerate the establishment of an open system for government, industry, university, and research. Physical strength of technological innovation. The second is to accelerate the application of products to market, deepen the cultivation of market segments, and guide the horizontal and vertical integration of the industrial chain. The third is to strive to build an open ecology, organically integrate various elements of the platform layer, the element layer, and the policy layer. The products and services are more in line with the market and form an open, efficient, and organic collaborative ecosystem.

"Only if we closely follow the pulse of quasi-industry development and follow the trend, can we seek a leading advantage in the new round of industrial reform and be invincible in global competition." Member of the Liangjiang New District Party Working Committee and Management Committee Deputy Director Qin Shubin said that the intelligent manufacturing model characterized by the deep integration of new-generation information technology and manufacturing technology is triggering a new round of manufacturing change, and the global manufacturing industry is accelerating the transformation to informationization, intelligence, intelligence, and personalization. In this era, the deep integration of robots with innovative information technologies such as the Internet, big data, and artificial intelligence is an inevitable trend.

Qin Shubin said that the Liangjiang New Area, as the country's third inland and first national development and opening up new area, has obvious comparative advantages, a strong industrial foundation, a good investment environment policy, and a strategic platform for advanced manufacturing bases. It is the development of Chongqing The robot integrates the main development of the intelligent industry. Leading domestic and foreign industrial robot companies such as Kawasaki, KUKA, ABB, and Huashu have already landed, and service robots such as excellent molds have also been laid out, initially forming a high-end robot cluster, starting with key components, and gradually improving the industrial ecology.

In the next step, the Liangjiang New District will continue to expand the industrial agglomeration of industrial robots + heavy parts, system integration and intelligent transformation, and vigorously develop and promote the deep integration of the Industrial Internet, big data, artificial intelligence and robots. It is estimated that by 2020, more than 100 robots and intelligent manufacturing-related enterprises will be gathered to build the Liangjiang New District into a highland of intelligent manufacturing equipment industry in western China.