"Robots" lead the development of manufacturing

The R&D, manufacturing, and application of robots are important indicators of a country’s technological innovation and high-end manufacturing levels. Major robot manufacturers and countries have stepped up their layout and seized the commanding heights of technology and market. In the next two years, China will become the world's largest robot market. It is necessary to review the situation in the competition, make overall considerations, and pay close attention to planning and solid progress.

The "robot revolution" is not an independent revolution, but an organic part of the third industrial revolution characterized by digitization, intelligence, and networking. The "Robot Revolution" fundamentally overcomes the conflict between product cost and product diversity under the traditional industrial production mode, thereby promoting the transition from a linear product development process to a parallel product development process, and significantly improving the performance of industrial products and product functions. Extremely rich and greatly reduced product development cycle.

On the whole, the "robot revolution" has the following characteristics:

First, intelligence has become a core feature of the new generation of robots. Assembly sensors and robots with artificial intelligence can automatically identify changes in the environment, thereby reducing dependence on people. Future unmanned factories can automatically plan production processes and processes according to order requirements and complete production without any participation.

Second, high-speed networking and cloud storage make robots the terminals and nodes of the Internet of Things. With the advancement of information technology, industrial robots will be more effectively connected to the network to form a larger production system. It will be possible for multiple robots to collaboratively implement a set of production solutions. Service robots and home robots can also be remotely monitored via the Internet. Collaboration between multiple robots can provide more processes and more complex services.

Third, robotic production costs have fallen rapidly. In the industrial field, the technology and technology of robots have become increasingly sophisticated, and the price/performance ratio has been continuously improved. The initial investment in robots has continuously narrowed compared with traditional special equipment. Although there is still a gap between power and speed and traditional equipment, robots have significant advantages in terms of refinement, flexibility, intelligence, and information technology. Therefore, traditional robots substitute traditional technologies in manufacturing products with high degree of personalization and complicated processes and processes. Special equipment has higher economic efficiency. The drop in cost has also led to robots gradually entering offices and homes.

Fourth, the field of robotics applications continues to expand. Robots were initially used in automotive and electronics industries with a high level of modularity. With the improvement of the level of intelligence and the ability to complete more complex actions, the textile, chemical and food industries also use robots in large quantities. As technology continues to mature and labor costs increase, the application of industrial robots will be extended to the entire industrial field.

Fifth, profound changes have taken place in human-computer relations. On the one hand, the computer's operating system and control system will be standardized and platformized. In the future, instructions can be sent to the robot through different ports, including mobile phones. On the other hand, it is a trend for people and robots to cooperate with each other to complete a certain goal. Mature technology will enhance people’s trust in robots, and the collaborative relationship between humans and robots will be further enhanced.

U.S. - Leading the wave of intelligence, clearly proposing the development of industrial robots to boost the manufacturing industry

In June 2011, Obama announced the launch of the "Advanced Manufacturing Partner Program," which explicitly proposed the development of industrial robots to boost US manufacturing. According to the plan, the United States will invest 2.8 billion U.S. dollars, focusing on the development of third-generation intelligent robots based on mobile Internet technology. According to the data from the World Technology Assessment Center, the United States is currently the world leader in the industrial robot architecture. Its comprehensiveness, accuracy, and adaptability have surpassed those of other countries. The level of robot language research is even higher. These technologies integrate with the inherent advantages of information network technology, laying an advanced and reliable foundation for intelligent robots.

With intelligence as the main direction, U.S. companies are increasing their R&D efforts on new materials, striving to substantially reduce the weight and load ratio of robots, and on the one hand, accelerating the development of visual and tactile artificial intelligence technologies such as visual assembly control and navigation. With the arrival of the smart manufacturing era, the United States has enough potential to overtake Japan and Europe. It is worth noting that the US Internet companies represented by Google have also begun to enter the field of robotics, trying to integrate virtual network capabilities and real sports capabilities, and promote the intelligentization of robots. Google acquired a number of technology companies in 2013 and has initially implemented business deployments in several key areas of smart robots, including vision systems, strength and structure, joints and arms, human-computer interaction, scroll wheels, and mobile devices. If its robotics department can continue to grow in accordance with the goal of “organizing global information”, in the future, Google can enter the rapidly growing intelligent industrial robot market, and it can acquire huge amounts of information from robot applications to feed back its data business.

Japan - the supporting industrial system is complete, the government vigorously promotes the popularization of applications and technological breakthroughs

At present, Japanese industrial robots represented by Fanuc and Yaskawa and industrial robots from Europe and the United States can resist courtesy. In 2012, benefiting from the rapid growth in the demand for industrial robots in the downstream automotive industry, Japan once again became the world's largest industrial robot market with an industrial robot density of 332 units/ten thousand people, the highest in the world. The industrial competitive advantage of Japanese industrial robots lies in a complete supporting industrial system. They all have strong technical advantages in key components such as controllers, sensors, speed reducers, servo motors, and numerical control systems, which strongly promote the miniaturization of industrial robots. Lightweight, networked, imitative and cheaper. In recent years, there has been a trend of spurring the development of the service robot industry with the advantages of the industrial robot industry and focusing on the development of medical/care robots and disaster relief robots to deal with issues such as population aging and natural disasters.

The Japanese government plays an important role in it. The Japan Robot Industry Association, officially established in 1972, also played an important role. The organization promotes popularization of industrial robots by encouraging research and development, securing government policy support, and organizing expositions. Since the beginning of the new century, the Japanese government has paid more attention to the development of the industrial robot industry. In 2002, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry began implementing the "21st Century Robot Challenge Program" and supported the robot industry as a high-end industry. In 2004, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry launched the "Report on the New Industry Structure" as a key industry. In 2005, the "New Industry Promotion Strategy" once again listed robots as one of the seven emerging industries. Since then, the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry has supported the development of the robot industry with various industrial policies as the norm. Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport have actively implemented robot-related projects and promoted robotic technology advancement and industrial development by organizing "Robot Award" and "Robot Competition" and other social activities.

Germany - Promoting transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, government-funded human-computer interaction technology and software development

Although Germany introduced industrial robots later in Japan, similar to Japan, the shortage of labor in the post-World War II period and the requirement to improve the level of manufacturing technology have greatly promoted the development of industrial robots in Germany. In addition to its application in technology-intensive industries such as automotive and electronics, German industrial robots are also widely deployed in traditional industries including plastics, rubber, metallurgy, food, packaging, timber, furniture and textiles, and actively promote the upgrading and upgrading of traditional industries. In 2011, the sales volume of industrial robots in Germany reached a record high, and maintained its position as the largest multi-purpose industrial robot market in Europe. The density of industrial robots reached 147 units/ten thousand people.

The German government played an important role in the initial stage of the development of industrial robots. Later, industrial demand led industrial robots to be smart, lightweight, flexible and energy-efficient. In the mid to late 1970s, the German government imposed a "plan to improve working conditions," which forced the provision of dangerous, toxic, and hazardous jobs to replace robots with robots, opening up the initial market for the use of robots. In 1985, Germany began to march into the field of intelligent robots. After 10 years of hard work, industrial robot companies represented by KUKA occupy a leading position in the world. In 2012, Germany implemented the “Industry 4.0 Project” with “Smart Factory” as the center of gravity. Industrial robots promoted the transformation of manufacturing and manufacturing to a flexible and individualized direction. According to this plan, through intelligent human-computer interaction sensors, humans can use the Internet of Things to remotely manage the next generation of industrial robots. This kind of robot will also have a “wake-up mode” in the production gap to solve the high energy consumption problem in use and promote the green upgrade of the manufacturing industry. At present, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has begun to fund the research and development of human-computer interaction technology and software.

South Korea - The world's highest density of use, multiple policies supporting the development of third-generation intelligent robots

In the early 1990s, the Korean government responded to the explosive demand for industrial robots in the automotive and electronics industries in the country. It used the “market for technology” to introduce Japanese Fanuc through the Hyundai Group and fully studied the latter technology. Korea Industrial Robot Industry System. After 2000, South Korea’s industrial robot industry entered the second round of rapid growth. From 2001 to 2011, the average annual growth rate of robotic installed capacity in Korea was as high as 11.7%. Data from the International Federation of Robotics shows that in 2012, South Korea’s industrial robot use density was the highest in the world, with 347 robots per 10,000 workers, far higher than the global average of 58 sets.

At present, Korean industrial robot manufacturers have accounted for about 5% of the global market share. Hyundai Heavy Industries has been able to supply robots for welding, handling, sealing, palletizing, stamping, sanding, loading and unloading, etc., and has been widely used in the automotive, electronics, and communications industries, greatly increasing the self-sufficiency rate of Korean industrial robots. However, as a whole, Korean technology still has a big gap with leading countries such as Japan and Europe.

In recent years, the Korean government has issued several policies in succession to support the development and application of third-generation intelligent robots. In 2003, the Ministry of Industry and Resources announced South Korea's “Top Ten Growth Power Industry”, including smart industrial robots; in September 2008, the “Intelligent Robot Development and Popularization Promotion Law” was formally implemented; in April 2009, the government issued “ The first basic plan for intelligent robots, plans to invest 1 trillion won (about 6.116 billion yuan) in the research of five robots, including industrial robots, by 2013, striving to make South Korea the dominant robot in the world in 2018. National; October 2012, Robot Future Strategic Battle Net 2022 was announced, and its policy focus is to support South Korean companies to enter the international market and seize the opportunity of industrialization of intelligent robots.

China - Faced with challenges such as the control of core technologies by developed countries, the industrial market is huge

First of all, some technologies in the field of robotics in China have reached or approached the international advanced level. There are many technologies involved in robots, which can be roughly divided into device technology, system technology, and intelligent technology. The gap between China's equipment and system technologies such as general parts and components and information networks and developed countries is about 10 years. Localization rates for welding, handling, cleaning, palletizing, and packaging robots that do not require high levels of intelligence are relatively low. high. In recent years, China has made breakthroughs in artificial intelligence research and development. The Chinese Academy of Sciences and many famous universities have cultivated teams specializing in artificial intelligence research. Robot learning, bionics recognition, data mining, and pattern, language, and image recognition technologies are relatively mature. .

Second, Chinese companies have strong system integration capabilities, which are reflected in highly modular industries such as electronic information and high-speed rail and other complex product industries. The significance of system integration lies in the fact that the modules constitute an applicable production system according to the needs of specific users, which may become a breakthrough point for the Chinese robotic industry to break foreign monopolies.

Third, there is huge market space for the Chinese robotics industry. At present, the use density of robots in China is low, and the cumulative installed capacity of robots in the manufacturing industry is less than half of the international average. The market for service and home robots is still in the cultivation phase, and there is huge room for growth in the robot application market; second-generation robots are still the mainstream robots. The space for upgrading to third-generation intelligent robots is huge; robots are mainly used in the automotive industry, and robots have huge room for expansion in other fields.

Of course, we must also soberly see the great challenges facing the development of China's industrial robot industry. First, the top-level architecture design and basic technologies of robots are controlled by the developed countries. In the cost structure of robots, the relatively large proportions of reducers, servo motors, controllers, and numerical control systems all rely heavily on imports. Domestic robots do not have significant cost advantages. Second, there is a risk of low-end locking. On the one hand, developed countries will not easily transfer or authorize core robot technologies and patents to China. The Chinese robot companies are hindered from entering the mid-to-high-end market through participation in international standards development and technical cooperation; and on the other hand, local governments blindly invest in the industry. Overcapacity may form, leading to redundant construction and low price competition. Again, there is no effective convergence between robot R&D, manufacturing, and applications. The leading universities and institutes related to R&D of robotics do not have the ability to expand the market. However, the investment in basic R&D is still very low. There are also many institutional and institutional obstacles in the integration of production, education and research, which leads to disconnection between R&D and manufacturing.