Chinese robot manufacturing has no core technology

Robotic arc welding, laser tracking and positioning, heavy load AGV intelligent delivery... Zero manual handling, zero manual pairing, zero manual welding... Thanks to Shenyang Xinsong Robot Automation Co., Ltd. “Digital Intelligent Factory Solutions”, today This scenario has become a reality in many domestic companies.

This is just a microcosm of the development of China's industrial robot industry. After more than 30 years of development, the Chinese industrial robot industry is ushering in a new wave.

Become the world's largest market

According to data from the China Robotics Industry Alliance, in 2014, China's market sold a total of 57,000 industrial robots, an increase of 55% over the previous year, accounting for about one-fourth of global sales. It has become the world's largest industrial robot market for two consecutive years.

According to forecasts from the industry research center, in the next three years, shipments of robots in the electronics, metals, rubber and plastics, food, and pharmaceutical industries will exceed those of the automotive industry, and the general manufacturing industry will become the new battlefield for industrial robots.

"Because of the disappearance of demographic dividends, labor shortages, and sharp rises in labor costs, China's original manufacturing model is no longer sustainable." Qu Daokui, president of Xinsong Robot Automation Co., Ltd., believes that the widespread use of robots is China's manufacturing industry. The important means and approaches for big countries to become strong manufacturing nations.

In addition to industrial upgrading needs, government support is another important reason.

On May 8, 2015, the “Made in China 2025” issued by the State Council was the action plan for the first decade of implementing the strategy of building a strong country. Among them, the robot is one of the ten key areas for promoting breakthrough development.

In fact, as early as May 2012, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the “Twelfth Five-Year Development Plan for Smart Manufacturing Equipment Industry”. As an important part of smart manufacturing equipment, robots welcome its strategic development opportunity.

Local governments have also accelerated the implementation of the robot strategy. In 2013, Zhejiang announced that it will take the lead in implementing machine substitution projects and plans to invest 500 billion yuan in machine substitutions in the next five years. In 2014, over 60% of industrial enterprises in Dongguan began to replace workers with robots; in 2015, Shenyang was established. 200 billion robotic industry development fund.

However, from the perspective of robot density, it is still far from enough. According to statistics, China currently has only 30 robots per 10,000 workers, which is far from the goals set forth by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in its "Guidance on Promoting the Development of Industrial Robots Industry" ("Opinions") published in 2014. According to the Opinions, by 2020, the robot density (the number of robots used per 10,000 employees) will reach 100 or more. Compared with Japan, Germany, and other developed countries, the use of robots in China has a greater gap. At present, the robot density in Japan is 11 times that of China, 10 times in Germany, and 5 times in North America.

Most stay in the manufacturing phase

Under the tide of "robot replacement", the market for industrial robots in China is still promising. In terms of technology, China’s industrial robots have also been continuously advancing in catching up with the advanced international standards.

According to industry insiders, after more than 30 years of development, significant advances have been made in basic robot technology, cell technology, control devices, or operational mechanisms or application engineering. Such an example is not uncommon in domestic robot companies.

As a leading robot company in China, Shenyang Xinsong's mobile robots have been listed on the global procurement supply list by companies such as the United States and Ford, and exported to 21 countries and regions, occupying more than 90% of the domestic automobile market and electric power market share and reaching international leading level.

As the earliest company engaged in automatic packaging palletizing robots and complete sets of production lines, Harbin Boshi Automation Co., Ltd. is one of the few companies in the world that can systematically complete independent research and development, complete sets of production and supporting services.

Zhang Yuchun, deputy general manager of the company, introduced, "The company has high-speed high-precision automatic weighing technology, high-speed packaging technology, high-speed palletizing technology, stretch film packaging technology, synthetic rubber dehydration, drying, molding, packaging, palletizing and other core Technology, a number of products filled the domestic gap, and successfully broke the monopoly of foreign technology and product areas."

In the field of automobile manufacturing, the most common type of spot welding and arc welding currently used is articulated arm robots. However, this kind of robot is a kind of teaching industrial robot that can only take a fixed program. It is a robot with no eyes. Wang Zongyi, chairman of Harbin Xingjian Intelligent Robot Co., Ltd., said: “Our smart welding cutting robots have visual recognition tracking and 3D measurement capabilities, which means that robots are equipped with eyes and brains. From this perspective, we are not following technology. Is a direct participant in international competition."

Of course, compared with the international advanced level, domestic robotics companies still have a big gap. According to Zhang Yuchun, key parts and components of Chinese robotics companies are generally dependent on imports, with low technology reserves and small scale of application. Robots produced are generally lower than international brands in terms of accuracy and reliability.

Statistics show that at present, more than 70% of the core components of domestic industrial robots rely on imports, and the import cost accounts for more than 40% of the total cost.

“Most companies in China are only accustomed to manufacturing, and core technologies have never been.” Wang Zongyi told reporters, “Our company has really not accumulated in this area. The country has been calling for enterprises to become the main body of R&D, but now Most are still in the manufacturing phase."

In Zhang Yuchun's view, intelligence is the key to the development of future industrial robots. "For example, industrial robots must have the ability to sense. Without perception, it is not only inefficient, but also can not be human-machine collaboration."

It is understood that most domestic robot applications are limited to palletizing, handling, AGV (automated guided transport vehicles) and other fields, while applications in high-end industries such as automobiles and electronics are almost exclusively monopolized by international brands.

In addition, the industrial robots in our country have serious faults from the basic originality achievement to the R&D products, and the rate of achievement conversion and industrialization rate are not high, which seriously restricts the development of China's robot and automation equipment industry. The innovative multi-level talent system required by the robot industry is not perfect, which also affects the innovation of industrial robots in China.

Development depends on the size of the cluster

"The robot is a high-tech industry, is a typical 'three high', high technology intensity, high talent concentration, high capital intensity." Qu Dao-kui said, "High-tech should be chip, network, photoelectric, but many domestic robots The company still has a chassis, fan, and keyboard."

Cao Jianlin, deputy director of the Ministry of Science and Technology, once said that apart from the medium-sized enterprises that specialize in research institutes such as the Shenyang Institute of Automation, China’s robotics companies do not have large enterprises. Most of them are popular entrepreneurs and have been developed by many people. enterprise.

Wang Zongyi said in an interview that “China’s robotics companies are too small to invest as much R&D funds as big companies like IBM and Intel, and they don’t have enough talents and facilities to distribute. The robot projects are big and their cycles are relatively long".

"It is impossible to rely on small businesses and small money to develop the robot industry." Qu Dao-kui believes that China needs a large-scale robotics company. "This scale not only refers to the scale of the industry, but also refers to the overall strength of the company."

It is also based on this judgment that the establishment of the HIT Group in December 2014 was seen as another case of integrating resources and taking the development model of the group. Bai Xianglin, vice president of the group, said, "The basic idea of ​​the group is: platform traction - full chain integration - innovation and entrepreneurship - cluster development, and its goal is to create an innovative entrepreneurial platform for national robots and smart equipment."

Zhang Yuchun also stated that the reason why Bosch established the HIT Research Institute in 2013 was to hope to rely on the discipline advantages of Harbin Institute of Technology and the industrial support of Harbin Boshi Automation Co., Ltd. to build scientific and technological innovation, personnel training, cooperation between industry and research, and technology. Achievements have been transformed into four major platforms, concentrating on cutting-edge robotics in the international manufacturing field.

"The technological revolution is often accompanied by changes in the corporate model." Qu Dao-kui said that after going through the factory model and the company model, the future corporate model will shift to the platform model. To this end, Xinsong is implementing a large platform strategy, hoping to break through the innovation chain platform and coordinate development with the industry platform and fund platform.