02, the most diverse application scenarios of commercial service robots

Service robots refer to all kinds of robots that are used in non-manufacturing industries and serve humans in addition to industrial robots. Service robot application scenarios are complex and diverse, with the deepening of intelligence, it can provide retail, logistics, medical, education, cleaning, accompany, security and other services, used in hotels, shopping malls, restaurants, scenic spots, convenience stores and other scenes. According to the International Federation of Robotics, the global service robot market will reach $20.2 billion by 2023.

The use of service robots can significantly reduce labor costs, while alleviating the shortage of labor resources caused by global aging. For customers, accepting the service of robots is a brand new consumption experience; For service-oriented enterprises, the use of service robots is already an important means to reduce costs and increase efficiency, improve the degree of differentiation between stores and brand competitiveness.

With the acceleration of the process of domestic substitution, domestic service robot enterprises have begun to use domestic key components, resulting in lower production costs, the popularity of AI technology makes robots more intelligent, and the acceptance of robots by businesses has gradually increased.

According to the “China Service Robot Industry Research Report 2022” data show that in the past three years, the number of service robot related enterprises in China has increased by 296%, and has exceeded 100,000. From 2018 to the third quarter of 2022, robot-related corporate financing events totaled 500, with a total financing of nearly 84 billion yuan. Among the 254 invested enterprises, commercial service robots as the main product of the enterprise accounted for more than 60%. Commercial service robot is an important branch of service robot, which is used to replace or assist human to carry out service work in commercial service scenarios.

According to incomplete statistics, in the first half of 2023, 15 commercial service robot companies received financing, covering hot commercial scenarios such as cleaning, distribution, and catering, of which 5 financing cases exceeded 100 million yuan: Purdue Technology received 100 million yuan of C3 round financing and hundreds of millions of yuan of C4 round financing, Gaoxian Robot completed hundreds of millions of yuan of financing, Xingmei Innovation completed nearly 200 million yuan of angel round financing, Hanyang Technology completed more than 100 million yuan of Pre-A round financing.

IDC data show that the overall size of the commercial service robot market in China in 2022 is $169 million, slightly down 2.5% year-on-year. Catering distribution and commercial cleaning have become the largest application scenarios of commercial service robots, Qinglang Intelligence and Gaoxian Automation have a clear lead in catering distribution and commercial cleaning, respectively, and the two together occupy about 50% of the overall market share of commercial service robots.

1734-IB4

Qinglang intelligent service robot

In this regard, Li Junlan, research manager of IDC China emerging Technology Research Department, said that in 2023, the economic situation is rising, downstream customer demand is recovering, and the application of commercial service robots in sinking markets and new industries and new scenarios is also further expanding, and China’s commercial service robot market is recovering vigorously.

This is also confirmed at the 2023 World Robot Conference. At the exhibition, commercial service robots were mostly exhibited through integrated robot solutions that integrated various types of vision and sensors, rather than stand-alone displays. With the gradual maturity of artificial intelligence technology, the application scenarios of robots are gradually deepening, and the capabilities of multi-round open human-computer dialogue, multi-modal human-computer interaction, machine vision and intention guidance are also significantly improved. The service types of robots are also more segmented: cleaning, distribution, massage, tea making, companionship, disinfection, patrol, etc.

In addition, going to sea has become another way out for many commercial service robot companies to actively seek. Taking Qinglang Intelligent as an example, during the epidemic period, Qinglang Intelligent began to build overseas teams, products covering 60+ countries and regions, and participated in and completed the robot certification in 64 countries, becoming a member of UL’s first service robot standard committee. At present, Qinglang intelligent overseas business volume has overtaken the domestic business, Qinglang intelligent CEO Li Tong said that because many developed countries in Europe, America, Japan and South Korea and other regions are in the predicament of labor shortage, so the use of commercial service robots instead of human basic services will effectively enhance the competitiveness of urban service industries, reduce the cost of living of residents, and further enhance the national urbanization rate.