The robot industry ushered in an important window period
Our reporter Liu Jin
Robots are infiltrating our lives at a faster and faster rate-providing consulting and delivery services in hotels, delivering dishes in restaurants, moving goods on the factory floor, performing delicate operations in the operating room...
Song Xiaogang, executive vice president of China Machinery Industry Federation and executive director of China Robot Industry Alliance, said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from Economic Daily that my country's robotics industry is developing rapidly and has entered an important window period.
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, independent robot brands should seize this opportunity to fill up the weak links in the industrial chain as soon as possible, solve the "stuck neck" problem, and achieve high-quality development.
Application scenarios are gradually mature
The history of robotics research and development in my country can be traced back to the 1970s, but the industrialization process only began in 2010.
Driven by industrialization, the entire industry has begun to enter a stage of rapid development.
At the opening ceremony of the 2021 World Robotics Conference, Xin Guobin, Deputy Minister of Industry and Information Technology, stated that China's robotics industry will exceed 100 billion yuan for the first time in 2020, and China has become the backbone of the development of the world's robotics industry.
Xin Guobin introduced that China's industrial robot market has ranked first in the world for eight consecutive years, and the installed capacity in 2020 will account for 44% of the global total.
At the same time, the development potential of service robots and special robots has also begun to be released. In 2020, service robots and special robot manufacturing enterprises above designated size across the country will achieve operating income of 52.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 41%.
"At present, my country's self-owned brand robots have initially formed a complete industrial chain in terms of R&D and design, key components, integrated applications of the whole machine, standard testing and certification, etc., which can basically meet the basic needs of my country's industry with a large volume and a wide range." Song Xiaogang said .
Song Xiaogang analyzed that on the one hand, my country’s manufacturing industry has the largest scale in the world and the most complete industrial category, and it has the ability and foundation to develop into high-quality manufacturing; on the other hand, as my country’s demographic dividend declines, labor costs increase, which has forced all walks of life. Transform to intelligence.
In the process of high-quality development and transformation, my country's manufacturing industry has generated great market demand for the robot industry.
In addition, the occurrence of the new crown pneumonia epidemic has made the trend of unmanned and less humanized more obvious, which has increased the market's demand for robots.
In the field of service robots, the two main directions of smart society and smart home are also showing a growth trend.
"my country is a populous country. Whether it is social services or home services, the potential market is obvious." Song Xiaogang predicts that as more and more service robots enter the home and take on tasks such as cleaning, education, and companionship, service robots will soon There is explosive growth.
Qu Daokui, president of Sinsong Robotics Automation Co., Ltd., a leader in the robotics industry, believes that in recent years, robots have gradually developed and grown in the fields of service, medical care, health, education, and safety. In the future, the scale of these markets is likely to rapidly exceed the industrial scale. The market for robots.
Pricing and capacity are facing challenges
With the booming of the robot market and the continuous emergence of new outlets, the capital market of the robot track has never been hotter.
According to incomplete statistics from Tianyan Check data, from January to August this year, there were more than 60 financing incidents in my country's robotics industry, involving more than 12 billion yuan.
In the past two months, the robot market has become more lively, and several well-known companies have launched robot products across the border.
On August 10, Xiaomi showcased the CyberDog "Iron Egg", a bionic robot; on August 20, Tesla announced that it would launch a humanoid robot "Optimus"; on September 7, Xiaopeng Motors released its first robotic horse " Little White Dragon".
However, the dilemma faced by robot companies cannot be ignored.
As Song Xiaogang said, in terms of the three most important components in the upstream of the robotics industry-reducers, servo motors, and controllers, the technical level in related fields in my country is progressing, which can basically meet the needs of independent brands in low-end applications. Demand, but to develop toward the high-end, key components need to be upgraded.
Core components are highly dependent on imports, leading to a large amount of profits being eaten away by overseas component companies.
What's more regrettable is that independent brands not only do not have an advantage in cost, but the price is also lower than that of foreign brands, so the overall profitability is not high, and this directly affects the company's R&D investment.
"At present, some companies have begun to adopt domestic key parts and components." Song Xiaogang said that this is also a window period. It is very important to upgrade key parts, reduce parts costs, and ensure product development and production cycles. .
At the same time, he believes that in terms of production capacity, there is also a gap between us and foreign countries.
More important than production capacity is to ensure the reliability and consistency of batch products, and this is a weakness that independent brands have to solve.
However, the current development trend is very good. In welding robots, collaborative robots, small articulated robots and other fields, the production capacity layout of some major companies is improving.
Qu Daokui believes that with the continuous expansion of my country’s robot market, the booming capital market and the gradual maturity of application technologies, my country’s robotics industry should shift from “strategic follow” in the past to “strategic guidance” in the future, and achieve “combination” in many product technologies. "Run" or even "lead".
Market segments have opportunities to surpass
On September 27, Haikang Robotics released the new generation of mobile robot (AMR) architecture platform "Intelligent Base".
Mobile robots are considered to be the biggest outlet in the robotics industry in recent years.
According to Wu Yonghai, vice president and general manager of the AMR business department of Haikang Robotics, the current AMR business of Haikang Robotics has served more than 1,500 global customers and delivered more than 30,000 AMR units.
The advantages of self-owned brands in deep plowing the subdivision track are becoming more prominent.
Just as Ma Yeyun, vice president of Taihe Capital, said, the real solid moat of the robot company comes from industry recognition, cost advantage and product matrix.
The future head robot company should transform from "equipment supplier" to "solution and service provider."
Any segment is a huge market.
Song Xiaogang said that this is another window period.
Foreign brands are currently mainly making general-purpose machines, but once the profitability of foreign brands declines, they will make efforts in segmented areas.
The biggest advantage of independent brands is the local advantage, which is convenient for the development of robot products and parts that are more needed by market segments, forming their own intellectual property rights, or catching up, running or even leading through innovation.
"In the robotics industry, China can do better than foreign countries. The new round of product iteration has created this opportunity for us to surpass. In the future, leading companies should focus more on platform technologies, and invisible champions should segment markets and core components. It is necessary to keep up with the global development trend and form a comprehensive support." Qu Daokui is full of confidence in the future of domestic robots.
The development of the robot industry requires a complete industrial chain and demand environment. Therefore, the robot industry park is playing an increasingly important role in the development of my country's robots.
According to an incomplete total, the number of robot industrial parks nationwide will exceed 85 in 2020 after excluding the parks where robot companies are mainly used for their own use.
Song Xiaogang said that the development of the robotics industry requires the joint efforts of the industry and localities. In some areas where the manufacturing industry is relatively concentrated, if they can truly combine the needs of local transformation and upgrading to build a robotics industry chain, it will help the development of robotics companies.
However, in some areas, there is a phenomenon of blindly launching robot industrial parks, and relevant departments must provide guidance and standardization to avoid a large amount of waste of land, funds and other resources.