Development prospects and trends of industrial robots
In developed countries, the complete set of industrial robot automatic production line has become the mainstream and future development direction of automation equipment. Industrial robot automatic production lines have been widely used in foreign automobile industry, electronic and electrical industry, engineering machinery and other industries to ensure product quality, improve production efficiency and avoid a large number of industrial accidents. The use of industrial robots in many countries in the world for nearly half a century has shown that the popularization of industrial robots is an effective means to realize automatic production, improve social production efficiency, and promote the development of enterprises and social productivity.
Robot technology is a forward-looking and strategic high-tech field. The scientists of the International Institute of electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) put forward four key development directions in the prediction of the future scientific and technological development direction, and robot technology is one of them.
In October 1990, the international robot industry held an international standard conference on industrial robots in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. At the conference, a document was adopted, which divided industrial robots into four categories:
(1) sequential type. This type of robot has a prescribed program action control system;
(2) track operation type. Such robots perform some kind of mobile work, such as welding. Painting, etc;
(3) long distance operation type. Such as robots that work automatically on the moon;
(4) intelligent type. This kind of robot has the functions of perception, adaptation, thinking and man-machine communication.
Japanese industrial robot industry has popularized the first and second types of industrial robots as early as the 1990s, and reached the peak of its industrial robot development history. Now, it has made remarkable achievements in the development of the third and fourth types of industrial robots. Japan’s next generation robot development focuses on low-cost technology, high-speed technology, small and lightweight technology, reliability improvement technology, computer control technology, networking technology, high-precision technology, vision and tactile sensor technology, etc.
According to a plan designated by the Japanese government in 2007, Japan’s industrial robot industry will reach 1.4 trillion yen in 2050, with a million industrial robots. According to the standard that one industrial robot is equivalent to 10 labor forces, one million industrial robots are equivalent to 10 million labor forces, accounting for 15% of the total labor force in Japan.
China’s industrial robots started in the early 1970s, and their development process can be roughly divided into three stages: First: the embryonic stage in the 1970s; Second: the development period in the 1980s; Three: the practical period in the 1990s. Now, after more than 20 years of development, it has begun to take shape. At present, China has produced some key components of robots and developed industrial robots such as arc welding, spot welding, stacking, assembly, handling, injection molding, stamping and painting. A number of domestic industrial robots have served the production lines of many domestic enterprises; A number of robot technology researchers have also emerged. Some relevant scientific research institutions and enterprises have mastered the optimization design and manufacturing technology of industrial robot operators; Hardware design technology of industrial robot control and drive system; Design and programming technology of robot software; Kinematics and trajectory planning technology; Development and preparation technology of arc welding, spot welding and large robot automatic production lines and surrounding supporting equipment. Some key technologies have reached or approached the world level.
If a country wants to introduce high technology and transfer it to industrial technology (industrialization), it must have five elements, namely “5M” : machine / materials / manpower / management / market. Compared with Japan, which is called the “Kingdom of robots”, China has a completely different basic national condition, that is, a large population and a surplus of labor. The fundamental motivation to stimulate the development of industrial robots in Japan is to solve the serious shortage of labor. Therefore, China’s industrial robots started late and developed slowly. However, as mentioned above, the extensive use of robots is a very important way to achieve industrial automation and improve social production efficiency. China is striving to develop the industrial robot industry, introducing foreign technology and equipment, cultivating talents and opening up the market. The glory of Japan’s industrial robot industry benefits from the encouragement policies of the national government. China also shows great support for the development of industrial robots in the eleventh five year plan.
Development trend
At present, foreign countries have developed and produced various standard components, while China, as the main manufacturer of industrial robots in the future, the process of standardization is the development trend.
China’s manufacturing industry is facing the great challenge of transforming to high-end, undertaking international advanced manufacturing and participating in international division of labor. Accelerating the research, development and production of industrial robot technology is the main way for China to seize this historical opportunity. Therefore, the development of China’s industrial robot industry should be further implemented: first, industrial robot technology is the main means and way for China to transform from a manufacturing power to a manufacturing power. The government should provide more policy and economic support for domestic industrial robots, refer to foreign advanced experience, and increase technical investment and transformation; Second, in the national science and technology development plan, we should continue to give strong support to the research, development and application of intelligent robots, and form a new situation of synchronous coordination between products and automatic manufacturing equipment; Third, the quality of some domestic industrial robots has been comparable with that of foreign countries. When purchasing industrial robots, enterprises should not blindly import them, but should comprehensively evaluate them and base on domestic ones.
Intellectualization and bionics are the highest stage of industrial robots. With the continuous development of materials, control and other technologies, more and more laboratory products are commercialized and gradually applied to various occasions. With the development of mobile Internet and Internet of things, there will be more and more precision industrial robots with multi-sensor and distributed control, which will gradually penetrate all aspects of the manufacturing industry and transform from manufacturing implementation type to service type.
The area where industrial robots are first used on a large scale will come out of today's developed areas. With the progress of industrial transfer, the manufacturing industry in developed areas needs to be improved. Based on the reality that the cost of workers is increasing, the application of industrial robots has become the best alternative. In the future, the large-scale application of industrial robots in China will be concentrated in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Beijing and other places, and the number of industrial robots will account for more than half of the country.
The growing industrial robot market and the huge market potential attract the attention of the world's famous robot manufacturers. At present, China's imported industrial robots mainly come from Japan, but with the continuous emergence of enterprises with their own intellectual property rights such as "robots", more and more industrial robots will be made in China.