my country's robot industry is moving towards the middle and high end

Not long ago, at the 2023 World Robot Conference Robot Expo held in Beijing, the latest achievements were unveiled one after another, becoming an important window to observe the cutting-edge technology and industrial development of robots.

What is the development trend of my country's robot industry? In what areas should we make more efforts? The reporter conducted an interview.

Scenario expansion, "robot +" application continues to expand

According to the application field, robots are divided into industrial robots, service robots, and special robots. This expo broke the traditional display form classified by robots, and created 10 application scene exhibition areas and 1 key component exhibition area for "robot +" manufacturing, agriculture, trade logistics, medical health and so on. 160 domestic and foreign robot companies participated in the exhibition with nearly 600 exhibits, 60 of which were world premieres.

Rotating 360 degrees without dead angle, automatic filling according to instructions... Walking into the "Robot +" manufacturing exhibition area, I saw that the robotic arms are waving freely, and everyone is extraordinary. In recent years, the application scenarios of industrial robots have been "out of the circle", extending from traditional fields such as automobile manufacturing and metal processing to industries such as photovoltaics and lithium batteries. Robot skills have also "evolved" accordingly. Not only can they do "physical work" such as handling and welding, but they can also do "brain work" such as production scheduling and quality inspection, and they can even complete more complex operations through human-machine collaboration.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the application of industrial robots currently covers 60 industrial categories and 168 industrial categories in the national economy. my country has become the world's largest industrial robot application country for 9 consecutive years. In 2022, the output of industrial robots in my country will reach 443,000 sets, a year-on-year increase of more than 20%, and the installed capacity will account for more than 50% of the world's total.

In the "Robot +" agricultural exhibition area, various forms of smart orchard solutions attracted people to stop and visit. In a miniature simulated greenhouse tomato shed, a multi-arm picking robot walks back and forth. When it "sees" a tomato, it stops and stretches out its robotic arm. It only takes a few seconds to pick a fruit. According to the staff, this robot not only has a good "eyes" but also has a flexible "brain". It can judge the ripeness of fruits according to the color, monitor the growth information of fruit trees, and help estimate the yield.

Service agriculture is the epitome of the application expansion of service robots. Statistics show that the output of service robots in my country will reach 6.458 million units in 2022. Picking, inspection, logistics, elderly care... Service robots are accelerating their integration with production and life.

According to experts, the rapid development of service robots in recent years is mainly due to the development of artificial intelligence. The embedding of speech understanding and visual recognition capabilities makes service robots more "smart".

At the expo, an all-scene general-purpose 3D camera attracted much attention. According to the booth staff, compared with previous 3D cameras, this product can "see" up to 20 meters away, and can continuously output complete and accurate depth image information in the face of harsh conditions such as strong light. Due to the "fear" of strong outdoor light, robots based on 3D vision were mainly used indoors. With the help of the new 3D camera, the robot can go outdoors and show its talents in large-scale warehousing, logistics, mowing and other scenes.

The demand for special environment operations has promoted the development of special robots, and a variety of robots with disaster prevention and relief functions have become "stars" at the expo.

"With this exoskeleton robot, you only need to apply a little force, and your arm can easily lift a weight of 30 kilograms." The staff of Zhongdian Robotics Co., Ltd. told reporters that the researchers developed it based on the principles of bionics and ergonomics. This exoskeleton robot can automatically detect the force of the hand and provide precise and detailed assistance. It can play a role in emergency rescue and logistics handling.

Experts said that robots are a bridge connecting artificial intelligence, 5G and other technologies to the manufacturing industry. At present, the digital economy is booming, and intelligent, networked, and flexible manufacturing is accelerating. Giving full play to the leveraging role of robots will not only help the manufacturing industry to improve quality and efficiency, but also open up new fields and new tracks for development. New kinetic energy and new advantages.

Driven by innovation, the robot industry chain has initially formed

The reporter learned that, on the whole, in recent years, the basic capabilities of my country's robotics industry have improved rapidly, showing a trend of moving towards mid-to-high end, and some technologies and applications have been at the forefront of the world.

——Break the monopoly and enter high-end application industries such as automobile manufacturing.

At the Shenyang Xinsong Robot Automobile Spot Welding Workstation, four industrial robots are waving their arms and "poking" on the white car skeleton to demonstrate their body spot welding skills.

"The process structure of the automobile welding line is tight and the technology is difficult. Multiple welding robots are required to operate accurately, efficiently, and without failure. Due to the high barriers to the industry, automobile spot welding has been monopolized by foreign robot companies for a long time." Shenyang Xinsong Robot Automation Co., Ltd. Ma Cheng, the industry manager of the company, told reporters that based on the self-developed control and software system, the spot welding effect and efficiency of Shenyang SIASUN robots have reached the industry-leading level. At present, nearly 100 spot welding robots have entered many domestic automobile manufacturers. .

——Seize the opportunity and enter the emerging smart manufacturing market.

At the booth of Efort Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd., the staff introduced the application of 6-axis industrial robots in the photovoltaic industry to the reporter. In the process of silicon wafer processing, a carrier called "flower basket" is needed. After the silicon wafers are put into the "flower basket", the robot grabs the "flower basket" according to the instructions and puts it into the equipment for the next stage of production. However, since silicon wafers are thin, brittle, and easily broken, this seemingly simple grasping action is also full of challenges: the robotic arm must not only respond quickly, but also have extremely high positioning accuracy and stability to reduce the number of silicon wafers. damage.

Efort's scientific researchers have faced up to the difficulties and developed more flexible and precise robots. Today, the company's robots are favored by photovoltaic manufacturers.

——Spanning upgrades, opening up new scenarios and creating new demands.

"The grasping force of our robot gripper is controllable, and it has been applied to many industries such as moon cake production and fresh food processing." At the booth of Beijing Soft Robot Technology Co., Ltd., the staff introduced the product highlights to the audience.

The reporter learned that traditional robots mostly grab objects through suction cups, cylinders, etc., but these grippers cannot meet the needs of sorting and packaging of special-shaped and fragile items. Based on elastomer material technology, the company has improved the structural design of robots, breaking through the problems of safe and non-destructive grasping and handling of flexible objects, and promoting the application of robots to broader scenarios.

"From robot bodies, parts to integrated applications, my country's robot industry chain has been initially formed." Wang Huan, director of the Policy Research and International Cooperation Center of the Chinese Institute of Electronics, said that my country's manufacturing industry is large in scale and complete in categories, and it is accelerating the construction of a manufacturing powerhouse for robots. Industrial development provides broad prospects, and the future development can be expected.

Apply traction and strive to promote the high-quality development of the robot industry

"With this 'heart', the robotic arm is more flexible." In the exhibition hall, a reducer product attracted much attention. As the "heart" of industrial robots, high-precision reducers have always relied on foreign imports. This self-developed reducer has achieved a new breakthrough.

The reporter learned that in recent years, domestic manufacturers have also overcome many difficulties in key core components such as control systems and servo motors, and the localization rate of robots has gradually increased. Among them, core components such as harmonic reducers and rotation vector reducers have entered the supply chain system of international leading enterprises.

The number of patents is proof. Wang Huan told reporters that in recent years, the number of patent applications in the field of robotics in my country has maintained an upward trend, and the number of patent applications has ranked first in the world for many years in a row.

The interviewed experts also pointed out that my country still has shortcomings in the key core technologies of robots, and the basic research and development of materials and processing technology is still relatively weak. To promote the high-quality development of the robotics industry, efforts should be made to make up for shortcomings, to make efforts in basic research and key core technology research, to consolidate the foundation of industrial development, to strive to improve the level of localization of robotics core components and software, and to strengthen the security of the industrial chain and supply chain.

While making up the short board, we must also forge the long board. After years of development, my country has embarked on an innovative development path that uses "robots + applications" to deepen its advantageous industries, drive technological breakthroughs, iteratively upgrade products, and increase industrial scale. Experts believe that application should continue to play a leading role and strive to transform market advantages into technological advantages.

During the conference, the "Three-Year Action Plan for the High-quality Development of the Robot Industry in Beijing Economic-Technological Development Zone (2023-2025)" was released. According to the plan, by 2025, the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone will strive to achieve a compound annual growth rate of more than 50% in robot R&D investment, and build 50 robot application scenario demonstration projects.

"Seize the opportunity and accelerate the transformation from big to strong. my country's robot industry will provide stronger support for the development of the real economy." Wang Huan said.