Why can Guangdong robots, which have been the top in the country for 5 consecutive years, continue to "surge" all the way?

The program ‘Yang BOT’ at the Snake Year CCTV Spring Festival Gala started with a bang, with a group of humanoid robots wearing floral padded jackets dancing yangko and spinning handkerchiefs. Before the Spring Festival, a humanoid robot standing at 170 centimeters tall and weighing about 55 kilograms walked gracefully on the streets of Shenzhen, earning the nickname ‘the most human-like walking robot’ from netizens. On the second day of the Lunar New Year, visitors effortlessly climbed Mount Tai, the ‘number one of the Five Great Mountains,’ with the help of exoskeleton robots made in Guangdong.

Robots in science fiction films are entering the real world: from intelligent mechanical arms in distant mines, patrol robots in power stations, to delivery robots in hotels, and smart Q&A robots in government service halls. Robots with various capabilities are quickly entering various industries, integrating into scenes such as laying bricks, sweeping the floor, washing walls, cooking, planting rice seedlings, picking fruits, and quality inspection.

The booming of the ‘new new’ in the robotics industry is a microcosm of the development of new productive forces in Guangdong. In 2020, Guangdong laid out a ‘roadmap’ for the development of the intelligent robotics industry. In the past year, the output of industrial robots in Guangdong exceeded 240,000 units, with a growth rate of 31.2%, accounting for 44% of the country. It has been the top in the country for 5 consecutive years, and has established the Guangdong Intelligent Robotics Innovation Center and the Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center…

In the land of Nanyue, which “dares to be the first in the world”, the robot track can “soar” all the way, which is to always maintain the spirit of “breaking”, the momentum of “creation”, and the style of “doing”.

The ‘windfall’ humanoid robot ‘goes to work in the factory’

In the year 2024, known as the first year of commercial humanoid robots, what are the highlights of the ‘Guangdong Series’ robots?

UBTECH’s industrial version of the humanoid robot, Walker S, enters the assembly workshop of NIO’s second advanced manufacturing base for on-site ‘training’, and the humanoid robot ‘Unicorn’ from Zhiyuan Robotics starts mass production for commercial use. Guangzhou Automobile Group has launched the third-generation physical intelligent humanoid robot, GoMate, which all have a common ‘household registration’ in Guangdong.

It seems that “going to the factory to work” has become the first step in the commercialization of humanoid robots.

“Entering the factory for practical training means that the humanoid robot walks out of the laboratory and comes to the real automobile manufacturing environment, through the collection of scene data on the assembly line, to understand the production needs of the enterprise, complete self-iteration and upgrading, and prepare for the formal ‘post’.” Jiao Jichao, vice president of UBTECH and executive dean of the research institute, said when Walker S entered the factory at the beginning of last year.

After the training in the assembly workshop of NIO factory in Hefei, Anhui, UBTECH’s industrial humanoid robot has entered the factories of Dongfeng Liuzhou, Geely, Lynk & Co, Xpeng, BYD, Foxconn, and others. When Xpeng’s smart factory celebrated the production of the 400,000th car, UBTECH’s industrial humanoid robot Walker S1, which is undergoing training in Xpeng’s smart factory, participated in and witnessed this moment.

Here, the emerging Walker S1 is sorting and transporting on the factory stage; on the other side, a group of ‘Shenzhen’ robotic companies are competing in the ‘working’ trend. The humanoid robots strolling on the streets of Shenzhen before the Spring Festival are from Shenzhen Zhongqing Robotics Technology Co., Ltd. Yao Qiyuan, the company’s marketing director, said that the previous walking of robots on the street was a ‘stability test for multi-terrain long distances’, unexpectedly causing a sensation.

“Currently, about 38% of the global humanoid robot supply chain companies are in China, while about 57% of China’s supply chain companies are in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area,” said Li Weichong, President of Guangzhou Lingong Industrial Co., Ltd. In August last year, Lingong Industrial released the first domestically produced full-size humanoid robot manufactured by a collaborative robot manufacturer, the “Lingong D1”, with 5 degrees of freedom in each leg and 8 degrees of freedom in the arms.

The ‘Rigo D1’ robot, a result achieved less than half a year after the official approval of the Rigo Industrial Humanoid Robot Project. “Industrial robots and humanoid robots have many similarities, such as control systems, control motors, components, etc. In the field of artificial intelligence, we also have 10 years of accumulation.” Li Weishen, manager of the Rigo Industrial R&D Department, told reporters, “Rigo D1” will be ‘screwing screws’ in the factory this year.

“When it first came out, it could only be considered as a little baby, not knowing anything. It’s like teaching a baby to walk, from holding hands to letting go slowly, we taught it to have conversations and perform tasks with both hands.” Li Weishen explained that through trial and error, humanoid robots will develop an execution strategy, which is like having a ‘soul’, and can even self-optimize through deep learning.

The ‘World Crash’ ‘Made in Guangdong’ robot rushes out to sea.

If the surging humanoid robots are ‘infants’, various industrial robots, service robots, special robots, drones, unmanned ships, etc., can be considered as ‘big brothers’ who have experienced ‘baptism’ and learned the ‘eighteen martial arts’.

“After decades of development, Guangdong has become the largest intelligent robot industry agglomeration area in China, ranking first in the country in terms of industrial scale and quantity.” Min Huaqing, executive director of the Expert Committee of the Guangdong Robotics Association and former dean of the School of Software of South China University of Technology, said that at present, there are relevant scientific research institutions deployed in the whole industrial chain of robot design, research and development, system integration, promotion and application, and the overall R&D and innovation level of robots ranks among the top in the country.

“Going to sea” is a microcosm of the rapid development of the “Cantonese brand” robot industry.

“When it first started in 2016, many people did not understand and did not accept (plant protection) drones, at that time, a large planter here, a little bit unmanageable, so they used drones to operate 20 acres of land, and the effect was good, and word of mouth opened the market.” Liu Guangzhen, the “pilot” of XAG UAV, told reporters that after opening the situation, the team operated more than 10,000 mu in 2017, doubled in 2018, and doubled again in 2019, and now operates more than 100,000 mu per year.

XAG’s drones have also flown to the world. Gong Yaoqin, co-founder of XAG Technology, listed a set of “going to sea” milestone data: in January last year, XAG Technology obtained permission from the British government to become the only drone that legally carried out plant protection spraying operations in the UK; In September last year, XAG’s 2024 P150 and P60 agricultural drones received FAA exemption and can be legally flown in the United States.

“Exterior wall cleaning is a high-risk job, and safety accidents are frequent, and replacing traditional spider people with robots is the best solution.” Zhang Zhizhong, chairman of Lingdu Intelligent Company, told reporters that they have developed curtain wall cleaning robots to replace high-altitude cleaning personnel, and after continuously participating in exhibitions and competitions, they have opened up business in overseas markets and entered Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Dubai and other countries and regions.

Last year, at the world’s largest industrial expo, Guangdong Jiateng Robot Automation Co., Ltd. secured a booth in Hall 17 of the largest industrial robot pavilion. Shortly after, its two unmanned handling vehicle products, magnetic navigation and inertial navigation, won the Red Dot Design Award in Germany; at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Shenzhen enterprise Han Yang Technology exhibited the Yarbo all-in-one courtyard robot, which can remove snow, mow the lawn, and patrol, attracting great attention.

In Zhuhai, Yunzhou Intelligence successively launched the world’s first environmental monitoring unmanned ship, China’s first marine survey unmanned boat, China’s first missile unmanned boat, security and rescue unmanned boat, autonomous navigation cargo ship and other self-developed products; In Guangzhou, Wenyuan Zhixing’s unmanned driving truck can conduct 24-hour cargo testing, China’s first 7x24 all-day automatic driving freight truck cargo testing…

Looking back over a decade ago, it was rare to see ‘Made in Guangdong’ robots abroad; nowadays, ‘Made in Guangdong’ robots can be found everywhere around the world. Behind the booming trend of ‘going global’ lies the strength and confidence of Guangdong in the field of robotics: a group of well-known domestic and foreign companies such as KUKA, Dazhu, Mirobot, UBTECH, and Cambricon, as well as a batch of local ‘rising stars’ like Guangzhou Risong, Guangzhou CNC, Huasu Robotics, and Ligong Industrial.

(Article Source: Jinyang Net)

Source: Eastmoney.com

Author: Jinyang.com