From Serving The Winter Olympics To Entering Life: Food Delivery Robots Have Evolved in Ten Years

"The first day was amazing. I saw the food delivered from the ceiling." Kenzie Lalonde, a former female ice hockey player and now a Canadian sports reporter, couldn't help but sigh when he saw the food delivery robot at the Winter Olympics. In the Winter Olympics restaurant, an all-pink robot that looks like a flying saucer descended from the sky. The three "propeller blades" that fixed the plate slowly opened, and the food inside was presented to the guests. This scene then spread all over the world through the Internet.

The food delivery robot that amazed many athletes at the Beijing Winter Olympics is continuing to serve the Winter Paralympics. All kinds of robots provide a variety of convenient services for the Winter and Paralympic athletes of various countries.

The Beijing News Shell Finance reporter learned that not only in the Olympics scene, food delivery robots have actually penetrated into all aspects of life. Food delivery robots have emerged in many domestic restaurants, hotels and even KTVs.

The reporter recently interviewed the manufacturers, marketers, restaurant owners, etc. of food delivery robots to reveal to readers how food delivery robots have quietly and quickly entered people's lives.

Cultivating the Market: Food Delivery Robots From Humanoids to Food Trucks

Many people have the experience of "random encounter" with a food-passing robot.

"The restaurant I went to during the Spring Festival party used a robot to deliver the dishes. Every time it delivered the dishes, it would sing 'You look so beautiful when you smile, like a flower in spring', reminding the waiter to serve the dishes. I listened to it many times throughout the process. "The netizen Azhai said that he doesn't like to eat kelp. "The food delivery robots in the restaurant are much busier than the waiters, humming little songs and running around." Netizen An Xiaomei said.

Shell Finance reporters noticed that the more popular robots at present often look like dining cars, with four wheels and several layers of racks that can place dishes. They can flexibly avoid obstacles on the road and automatically complete the delivery of food to the designated table. Task.

But when the food delivery robot was first invented, it was not like this. For example, Suzhou Pangolin Robot Co., Ltd., which was involved in the robot industry earlier, introduced in its 2016 New Third Board Public Transfer Instructions that between 2014 and 2016, its main business was changed from the original hydraulic breaker to service robots. At that time, the food delivery robots produced by the company were divided into four series. Shell Finance reporters noticed that these four robots are designed to imitate the image of a real waiter serving a plate, rather than the current "dining car" image.

Most of the early food delivery robots were "humanoid", and later evolved into a more popular "dining car", which has gone through a process of nearly ten years.

According to an article published by Zhangjiang Science and Technology, as early as 2012, Pangolin Robotics established a service robot research and development laboratory, but challenges also followed. The concept of service robots has not emerged on a large scale, there are not many players entering this field, and there is no technical experience for reference. How to get out of the laboratory and achieve landing has become a major challenge for enterprises, and the entire market has not rapidly With development, how to accurately find customer needs has become the key to market cultivation.

As for why it entered the food delivery robot, Zhang Liqiang, co-founder of Pangolin Robot, said, "As the population structure changes, the labor cost of the catering industry is under increasing pressure, and there is a lot of repetitive labor. In this part of the scene, the efficiency of our robot much higher than humans."

Also entering the food delivery robot is Qinglang Intelligence, which was established in 2010. "From 2010 to 2013, we have tried many directions in robotics, including teaching equipment for university teachers, educational robots for primary and secondary schools, sweeping robots, high-simulation robots, welcoming robots, etc., but they are not suitable for long-term development. Since 2014, we have gradually determined to be an unmanned delivery robot. At that time, we found that the product of unmanned delivery robot should gradually mature in the commercial environment.” Chi Xiaomin, public relations director of Shanghai Qinglang Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. told Shell Financial reporter.

It is understood that the earliest merchants using commercial food delivery robots can be traced back to a self-service hot pot restaurant in Jinan in 2010, but the robots at that time used magnetic navigation technology. The robots could only move along the laid black magnetic track and could not avoid obstacles. , even backward can not be completed, and can only return to the meal delivery point after a complete lap along the magnetic track, so the meal delivery efficiency is not high, and there may be failures.

From 2012 to 2022, the manufacturing technology of food delivery robots has also been continuously upgraded.

Shell Finance reporters noticed that in 2016, the public transfer instructions of the pangolin robot showed that among its four humanoid food delivery robots, two robots belonged to magnetic induction navigation, one was based on RFID positioning technology, and the other was equipped with a variety of sensors. On February 20, 2022, Shell Finance reporters read the product introduction presented by the pangolin sales staff and found that the company's robot products currently use SLAM robots for positioning and navigation. This is also the technological upgrading route taken by most domestic robot manufacturers.

In addition, under the year-by-year selection of the market, robots in the shape of dining cars have gradually replaced humanoid robots in sales. "The humanoid robot is actually not very efficient in delivering meals. Transforming it into a dining car shape can reduce the volume while increasing the capacity and stability of movement, which is more efficient." Lv Cong, who is engaged in the catering industry, told Shell Finance reporters.

Press the accelerator button: food delivery robots are on fire during the epidemic

The emergence of the new crown epidemic has pressed the "accelerator button" for the food delivery robot industry.

"The demand for contactless delivery has increased." A food delivery robot distributor in Guangdong told Shell Finance reporters, "For example, some quarantine hotels must use robots to deliver meals, which can reduce the risk of infection."

Chi Xiaomin told reporters that before the epidemic, the number of food delivery robots that actually landed was limited and the mass production capacity was limited. After the epidemic, the demand for service robots exploded, and the video transmission of robots using robots in various hospitals and isolation points played a good market. Cognitive effect, "The unmanned distribution robots have made great achievements during the epidemic and the further improvement of people's acceptance will accelerate the development and implementation of robots in the commercial field. Although the domestic epidemic has eased, the foreign epidemic is still very serious, so the company We have also received a large number of overseas orders.”

According to statistics, the market size of food delivery robots in China in 2017 was only tens of millions. By the end of 2020, the market size of food delivery robots in China has reached 1.16 billion yuan, and some institutions predict that it will be close to 15 billion yuan in 2025.

In terms of financing, relevant data shows that in the past 2021, there were more than 120 financing events related to service robots, of which more than half of the financing amounted to more than 100 million yuan, such as Qinglang Intelligent’s D round of financing of 200 million US dollars, and Ubisoft Technology’s C+ round of financing 19 100 million yuan, and Youdi Technology’s C2 round of financing of 200 million yuan, etc.

The "2021 China Robot Industry Research Report" released by 36Kr shows that in 2021, the number of start-up projects in my country's robotics track will remain stable, the industry's 28th effect will be obvious, and leading companies will continue to receive capital support. According to the Whale Database, as of October 31, 2021, a total of 4,653 robot-related projects have been included. Among them, there are 673 projects from seed round to A round, 172 projects from A+ round to C round, 22 projects from C+ round to Pre-IPO, 472 strategic investment and M&A projects, and 3254 unfinished projects.

According to data provided by IFR and the Chinese Institute of Electronics, the overall market size of my country's robotics industry is expected to reach 83.9 billion yuan in 2021, more than double that of 2017, with an average annual compound growth rate of 20.2%. From the perspective of market structure, industrial robots accounted for 53%, and service robots accounted for 47%.

Among them, food delivery robots under the category of service robots are the fastest growing. According to the previous statistical analysis data of NCBD (Meal Collection), a catering big data research service organization, the market size of food delivery robots in China in 2019 was only 220 million yuan, while in 2020 The annual scale of food delivery robots may reach about 1.2 billion yuan, and it is expected to be close to 15 billion yuan in 2025. At that time, the proportion of food delivery robots in the overall service robot market will increase from about 1% in 2019 to about 10%, an increase of 9 times.

Excavating rigid needs: supplementing the gap left by the transformation of service personnel

So, when contactless delivery is no longer just a requirement, can food delivery robots still be "popular"?

In this regard, Zheng Zhibin, director of the Purdue Technology Marketing Department, once said in an interview with the media that the original intention of the research and development of food delivery robots is to reduce costs and increase efficiency for enterprises, and contactless distribution can only be regarded as one of the uses of this category of robots. It really still needs to solve the problem of employing people in the restaurant service industry and help human waiters get rid of high-frequency and repetitive mechanical labor. By then, food delivery robots will become a rigid demand in the market.

Shell Finance reporter contacted several food delivery robot dealers as buyers, and found that the most recommended food delivery robot brands mainly include Qinglang Intelligence and Purdue Technology. "If you use the restaurant yourself and don't need other functions just for food delivery, I recommend Qinglang t6, which costs around 18,000 yuan; if you need other functions such as voice dialogue, I recommend Purdue Bella, which costs around 28,000 yuan. "A number of dealers told Shell Finance reporters.

"You can use the 'rent-before-buy' model, that is, try renting first, and if you want to buy, you can directly make up the difference. Some robots need to stick a positioning label on the ceiling, while others don't. After purchasing, connect to a notebook, we It can be operated remotely,” said a dealer.

Shell Finance reporters observed that technology upgrades and cost reductions are one of the reasons why more and more restaurants are buying food delivery robots. "I installed a food delivery robot last year, and the monthly rent is about 2,000 yuan, which is lower than the monthly salary of the waiter." On February 27, Mr. Zeng, who runs a restaurant in Tianjin, told Shell Finance reporters.

Chi Xiaomin told reporters that the salary of a food delivery person in a first-tier city is 4,500 to 5,000 yuan, "If you give him an electric car, he will become a courier and takeaway. His salary is from 4,000 yuan has become 7,000 yuan. Therefore, many waiters have gradually turned to express delivery and takeaway industries. Today, not many young people are willing to do such simple and repetitive jobs. There is a huge manpower gap in the catering industry. With the maturity of robotics technology, the cost of using unmanned delivery robots is also decreasing. As a labor-intensive industry, the catering industry has continuously increased labor costs. Unlike ordinary waiters, robots will not ask for leave, never get tired, and do not require additional costs such as social security. Only a small monthly electricity bill and 24/7 on-call.”

Mr. Zeng told reporters that although food delivery robots are cheap, they still cannot replace real people, and can only be used as a supplement to real people's service. "Its existence can improve the service quality of our waiters. When robots deliver dishes, the waiters only need to bring the dishes to the table. , which can reduce their workload and focus more on communicating with customers and responding to customer needs. In addition, children prefer robots, which will attract a group of customers.”

Prospects: Food Delivery Robots Target the High-Frequency Mobility Field

Shell Finance reporters searched on social platforms with keywords related to food delivery robots, and found that netizens have different attitudes towards food delivery robots. Some netizens like to interact with the food delivery robot very much, saying that the robot is "very cute", and some netizens said that the voice of the food delivery robot is very loud, "No one wants to listen to a machine-synthesized baby voice playing those embarrassing voices."

"The labor cost of some branded restaurants remains high. Many attempts have been made to save costs, such as introducing robots, but the sensitivity of the food delivery robot is not high enough, so it can only be used during off-peak dining hours. The four-wheeled machine is easy to build, But that's just a machine, and a machine with artificial intelligence can be called a 'robot'." Netizen Kui Yazi said.

Lu Cong told reporters that only when technologies such as AI voice interaction are mature can robots be compared with human waiters. This is impossible in the short term, but with the current technology, food delivery robots have been able to do a lot and withstand tested by the market.

"The key to unmanned delivery robots is movement, and movement is errands. Which scenes in life and who are doing errands is the potential market for this industry. Look for this principle, and you will find food passers in restaurants. Need to run around frequently, takeaways and couriers need to run around at high frequency, nurses in the hospital need to run between fixed points at high frequency, security guards need to go back and forth when patrolling in the mall, Cleaners also need to move around for cleaning work, etc. So you will find that there are actually many high-frequency moving jobs, and these jobs are very mechanical and do not require creativity. These jobs can actually use robots. , is also the field we will enter in the future." Chi Xiaomin said.