With the continuous development of technology, the application fields of robot technology are becoming increasingly widespread, and industrial robots have become an indispensable part of the manufacturing industry.
Data shows that in 2022, China's industrial robot sales accounted for more than half of the global total, ranking first in the world for ten consecutive years. In the first half of 2023, China's industrial robot production reached 222000 sets, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%.
According to the "14th Five Year Plan for the Development of the Robot Industry" jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments, by 2025, China will become a global hub for robot technology innovation, a hub for high-end manufacturing, and a new highland for integrated applications. Currently, there is a clear trend of machine substitution in some fields, and the scale of China's industrial robot industry will further expand.
At the "Robot Technology Application and Industrial Innovation Development Forum" during the 23rd China International Industrial Expo (hereinafter referred to as the "Industrial Expo"), industry insiders generally believed that industrial robots have broad development prospects, and research and development targeting specific fields and customers are also guiding enterprises towards new development.
Long term improvement
There are generally two views in the industry regarding the future development trend of industrial robots in China: firstly, from the perspective of penetration rate and demand, industrial robots still have broad development space; The second reason is that the industry has shrunk in the post pandemic era, and there is inevitably pessimistic sentiment in the industry.
The latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that the production of industrial robots in China last year was 443000 sets, a year-on-year decrease of 4.8%. Project delays caused by the epidemic and supply chain shortages are the main reasons for the decline in production.
The last time industrial robots experienced negative annual growth was in 2019, with a year-on-year decline of over 6 percentage points. In 2020 and 2021, the domestic production of industrial robots increased significantly, with year-on-year growth of 19% and 45%, respectively. The guests attending the forum generally believe that in the long run, there is still a lot of room for growth in industrial robots in the future.
On the one hand, as the demographic dividend gradually disappears, problems such as a decline in the number of working people, an increase in labor costs, and the aging of frontline workers will become increasingly serious. According to data from China Intelligence Consulting, 32% of enterprises will face labor shortages and shortages in 2022.
China is a major manufacturing country, and the issue of labor shortage is the fundamental driving force behind the development of the industrial robot industry, "Yuan Jianbin, Deputy General Manager of Jiangsu Furen Group, said at the forum.
For example, Guan Jian, Vice President of Youai Zhihe Robotics, stated that during communication with a customer at a wafer factory, it was found that the annual full capacity rate of a certain frontline job can only reach 70%, while this year's data only reaches 49%. "This data means that each of these workers has to work for two people, and the labor pressure is very high, and the demand for employment is also very tight
On the other hand, the penetration rate of industrial robots in various industries is still limited. Yuan Jianbin stated that in some fields, such as vehicle production and 3C, the coverage rate of robots is relatively high, but there are still nearly 90% or more industries that have not achieved automated production of robots.
Many challenges in industries have not yet been truly solved, such as autonomous mobility, intelligence, and the convenience of human-machine collaboration. "Cai Hua, Vice President of Domestic Marketing of Haikang Robotics, said that the industry still needs to discover more scenarios and values.
With the deepening of automation upgrading and the increasing personalized demand from consumers, rapid, repetitive, and large-scale rigid production can no longer meet industry needs. Flexible production has become a new engine for industry upgrading and is also driving the further development of industrial robots.
According to the prediction of Gaogong Robotics, the growth rate of China's industrial robot market will be between 20% and 25% in 2023, and it will still maintain a relatively fast growth rate. Gaogong Robotics stated that this expectation combines the backlog of robot orders from various companies this year and the demand judgment for downstream industries.
From the perspective of downstream demand, the new energy industry remains the largest incremental source of the industry, and the demand for industrial robots is expected to exceed 20%. Gaogong Robotics believes that in addition to new energy vehicles, power batteries, and photovoltaics, the development of the energy storage battery industry is expected to further increase the thickness of the new energy industry.
Lead by demand
Even with vast development space, industrial robots face multiple challenges in their penetration process.
Every new scenario and industry we face requires deep learning and exploration, "said Guan Jian. Applications that may belong to the same industry but are divided into different sub sectors will have essential differences, and the demand for characteristics is also targeted and improved by industrial robot manufacturers.
There are different standards in each industry, and the more advanced the automated manufacturing industry, the more perfect it may be.
This also means that the research and development of industrial robots should be more targeted at specific industries themselves, meeting the multiple needs of customers, many of which have extremely high requirements. Cai Hua gave an example that in some industries, the requirements for accuracy have reached a level that surpasses the human eye; Guan Jian also stated that some industries require production scenarios to be dust-free, so how to remove the dust pollution caused by the friction process of their mobile robots has become a problem that enterprises are considering and solving.
Don't make products out of context, "said Cheng Yangxuan, Vice President of Bluechip Technology. The products should be developed according to the application situation, environment, and target audience, and should be relatively customized.
This was also reflected at this year's Industrial Expo. For example, industries such as 3C and automotive have increasingly high requirements for the accuracy of collaborative robots. In response to this, Jieka Robot has released 2.5d visual positioning technology, which can achieve an accuracy of 0.2mm in precise positioning mode; In response to the safety hazards of robots falling due to sudden power outages during the production process, the Yuejiang CRA series is equipped with electromagnetic brake, which can prevent the end tool from falling less than 1mm when the robot is enabled up and down or encounters unexpected power outages, effectively avoiding damage to the end tool or workpiece.
We will continue to face new challenges, and now we have passed the era of robot enterprises fighting alone, and we need more collaboration between the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, "said Guan Jian.
In addition to the product itself, manufacturers also focus on further improving convenience and usability for customers, providing complete solutions, and leveraging the greater value of robots. The adaptability to the scene and the convenience of the client are becoming new competitive points in the industry.
Moving our AGV products from point a to point b is considered to meet the customer's requirements, but in reality, the customer's requirements go beyond that. We need to help the enterprise better produce, such as where and how much raw materials are stored, what the production pace is, what the pace of transportation is, how to store them after transportation, and so on. Cheng Yang, as an example, stated that behind this is a complete set of management processes, The test is the depth of understanding of relevant manufacturers about specific industries.
We should focus on delivery. Product development and signing orders do not necessarily mean success, but rather whether we can effectively utilize them in customer scenarios, "Cheng Yangxuan said.
Manufacturers' research and development tailored to customer needs is also guiding them to demonstrate their advantages in segmented fields. Guan Jian exclaimed that this year's Industrial Expo is very different from three years ago: three years ago, the products of various manufacturers were relatively similar, but this year there have been different positioning and directions, and each enterprise has been exploring different paths in these three years.
Building on the advantages of our own research and development to expand our robot applications in this small niche field, what we see today may only be a small hole, but behind it may be a paradise of peach blossoms, "said Guan Jian.