After the epidemic, the domestic industrial robot industry has entered a period of rapid recovery.

PCI-5112 On September 16, the 21st Century Business reporter learned from the sixth CEO Roundtable meeting of the Robot Exhibition of the China Fair of Industry that in January and February this year, the output of domestic industrial robots was 21,300 sets, a year-on-year decline of 19.4%; Since March, robot production has rebounded rapidly, and robot production increased by 32.5% year-on-year in August. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that from January to August this year, the domestic industrial robot production accumulated 136,900 sets, an increase of 13.9%.

In the first half of this year, China’s industrial robot production reached 93,794 sets, an increase of 10.3%. In July, the output of industrial robots continued to maintain high growth, and the signal of industry demand is obvious. At the Expo, the robot hall has also become the biggest attraction. In addition to hundreds of robots, KUKA, Aerotel and other brands have launched their first robots with independent intellectual property rights.

PCI-5112 It is not difficult to see that mechanization, automation and intelligence have become the focus of the current development of robots. Academician Ni Guangnan of the Chinese Academy of Engineering believed in an interview with a reporter of the 21st Century Business Herald that artificial intelligence machines, especially robots used in physiotherapy, health and other scenarios, China has a strong technical ability to achieve autonomy and control, and it is impossible to be jammed.

But even so, robot production still faces many bottlenecks. At present, the core technology of the domestic robot industry needs to be broken through, and the quality of robots also needs to be improved, especially to strengthen the competitiveness of control software and control systems. Only in the double improvement of output and quality can we promote the optimization of costs in order to land more widely.

PCI-5112 Man-machine collaboration speeds up

In recent years, the rapid development of domestic industrial robots, China has become the world’s largest robot application market for six consecutive years. Therefore, digitalization, networking and intelligence have become the inevitable trend of a new generation of industrial production. The report released by IDC predicts that the new business forms and new models represented by the industrial Internet will bring new development momentum and more business opportunities for the manufacturing industry. By 2024, 60% of domestic manufacturers will achieve 10% savings in operating expenses through the use of digital twins in iot and machine learning-driven processes.

PCI-5112 However, China’s manufacturing industry still faces no small challenges in the practice of digital intelligence upgrading. The “China’s” New Infrastructure “Development Research Report released by CCID Research Institute in 2020 pointed out that due to the lack of methodology for the landing of industrial Internet platforms in specific industries, most enterprises have not yet formed a clear understanding of the digital intelligence model. In addition, the basic support industry for the development of some industrial Internet platforms is weak, and the quantity, quality and safety and reliability of platform solutions are insufficient, which has also led to many enterprises to stay on the sidelines of intelligent upgrading.

In addition, high costs also form a barrier. On the one hand, due to the impact of the epidemic, some enterprises are under greater pressure in the capital chain, and it is difficult to support investment in digital intelligence; On the other hand, due to the lack of accurate measurement methods for the application value of industrial Internet platforms, some enterprises are uncertain, which restricts the further promotion and popularization of the platform.

Therefore, although some traditional manufacturing enterprises have turned digital intelligence into an important development goal, they have not incorporated it into the priority implementation content in actual operation. The good news is that some leading enterprises in the industry not only realize the importance of digital intelligence, but also make some useful exploration and achieve more results.

PCI-5112 At the fair, the four major smart businesses under the United States Group were also unveiled, including Kuka, the United States Cloud smart number, Ande smart link and central air conditioning. Take KUKA KR4AGILUS as an example, which is the first robot independently developed by Kuka’s Chinese team and sold globally. It can help enterprises in various industries such as the automotive industry, electronics industry, consumer goods industry, logistics/e-commerce industry, and healthcare to cut in from robots, achieve single-point upgrades, quickly deploy the underlying architecture of intelligent manufacturing, and take the first step of digital intelligent transformation.

“The digital intelligence upgrade of pan-manufacturing enterprises cannot be achieved in one step, and there is no universal template.” Zhang Xiaoyi, vice president and CIO of the United States Group and president of the IoT division, told the 21st Century Business Herald that with the penetration of digital intelligence technology into the whole process of product design, manufacturing, delivery and user experience, it is not only the traditional household appliance 3C industry, but also the pan-manufacturing industry including shoes and clothing, automobiles, food, metal products, daily chemicals, etc. The whole scene has been redefined, and the digital intelligent upgrade needs an iterative solution that can fit each industry segment and scene, and can not copy the past digital intelligent theory and model.

PCI-5112 In the view of the industry, the changes in China’s robot industry contain huge opportunities and challenges. On the one hand, the national policy has brought opportunities to the industry; On the other hand, the industry is in urgent need of innovative breakthroughs, which has become an inescapable challenge.

“In the era of Society 5.0, the role of digital intelligence technology in robots has been developed from simulation and rehearsal to process control, making man-machine collaboration and robot operation and maintenance smoother and more efficient.” Cao Qixin, a professor at the School of Mechanical and Power Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, told the 21st Century Business Herald.