We have seen the true strength of local enterprises in the exhibition area with the greatest changes at the Industrial Expo

If we talk about the exhibition area with the greatest changes at this year's Industrial Expo, the Robot Exhibition Area will definitely be one of them. Counting the past industrial expos, the robot exhibition has grown from an exhibition to an independent exhibition, with a scale ranging from 5000 square meters to 10000 square meters, and then to 56000 square meters this year. The area is getting larger and the "value" is also getting higher.

At the Industrial Expo, China's robotics industry has gone from being a "small lotus with sharp edges" to gradually overcoming multiple "bottleneck" research and development difficulties, achieving "overtaking on curves" in segmented fields, and demonstrating the true strength of "Made in China".

Add a spark to the industry

In the vast robot exhibition area, collaborative robots have been a new track actively laid out by major enterprises in recent years, and it is also an opportunity for domestic enterprises to overtake on curves.

Collaborative robots refer to robots that can interact with people or work safely nearby. In industrial production scenarios, if traditional robots encounter problems, the entire production line may face downtime. But the characteristics of collaborative robots are high safety, easy operation, easy maintenance, flexible deployment, and the ability to achieve manual replacement. They are widely used in digital, automotive, medical and other scenarios.

Nowadays, many local enterprises are focusing on how to better collaborate between machines and humans, and many products have performance similar to international first tier brands. Huashu Robotics has released four new industrial collaborative robots, opening up new possibilities for application scenarios such as machining, welding, assembly, and screw locking; Jieka Robot has released 2.5D visual positioning technology to help collaborative robots gradually overcome the difficulties of spatial pose correction. The R&D leader of this new technology stated that it is self-developed by Jieka Robotics and can achieve an accuracy of 0.2 millimeters in precise positioning mode.

The emerging brand Jebtech has made various types of robots a group appearance at the Industrial Expo. Its first collaborative robot, with a load capacity of up to 5 kilograms and a working radius of 850 millimeters, can be widely used in various industrial production scenarios, improving efficiency through human-machine cooperation, and can also be applied in non industrial scenarios such as coffee robots, entering the daily lives of citizens.

The on-site staff introduced that the competitiveness of this product lies in its high configuration, with core components from first-class suppliers and 100% self-developed electronic hardware; Another is high performance, combined with Jebtech's motion control technology, achieving breakthroughs in core indicators such as product motion speed, repeated positioning accuracy, and stable running time.

JEBERT Robotics Exhibition Stand at the Industrial Expo

According to MIR Rui Industrial data, in 2022, the growth rate of domestic industrial robot brands reached 22%, far exceeding 4% of foreign brands, and the market share of domestic brands further expanded to over 35%.

Jiang Yao, Chairman and President of Jebtech Robotics, said, "We are very optimistic about the development of the global collaborative robot market. In the future, we will increase investment, continue to research and innovate, and develop a series of collaborative robot products to provide industrial customers with higher configurations, higher performance, and higher cost-effectiveness products. This will add fuel to the rise of domestic industrial robot brands and help China's high-end intelligent manufacturing."

The industrial chain is striving to catch up

Behind the rise of domestic robots is the overall strength of the supply chain.

In the robotics industry, there are three core components known as "bottlenecks": controllers, servo motors, and reducers. They are the three most difficult key components to produce in the robotics industry and also the three major sources of profit for the industry. Industry insiders suggest that the cost of the three core components on a robot may reach as high as 70%.

To make breakthroughs in the three core components, it is not only necessary to have strong basic industrial strength and improved process level, but also to master core algorithms and have the ability to independently innovate in science and technology. In top robotics companies, algorithms are considered the most confidential existence.

For a long time, most of the three core components have been produced by European and Japanese companies, and in recent years, the number of Chinese companies engaged in core component production has gradually increased. At this year's Industrial Expo, many domestic robots and supply chain enterprises also showcased their latest achievements on the booth. For example, the controller independently developed by Jiebote adopts single chip integrated driving and control technology, which can greatly improve the reaction speed and action accuracy of the robot. At present, the core algorithm has applied for global patents, achieving independent and controllable control over the core algorithm.

For example, this year at the joint booth of Midea and Kuka, a high-precision harmonic reducer product was exhibited. According to Chen Shixing, the relevant person in charge of Midea, Midea has been working on developing harmonic reducers since 2019, and finally achieved mass production in 2022. In the past, in some scenarios such as aerospace components and semiconductor component processing, high precision was required for operation, and domestic reducers were unable to meet the conditions. At present, the harmonic reducer exhibited by Midea has an accuracy of up to 1 arc minute, which is very close to the international benchmark level.

High precision harmonic reducers exhibited at the Industrial Expo

So, how far are domestic robots from completely breaking through the bottleneck? At the Industrial Expo, a professional told reporters that there are more and more domestic enterprises engaged in the manufacturing of the three core components, at least hundreds of them. There are also many research teams working on core algorithms. Currently, there are many domestic alternatives in light load robots, such as collaborative robots. However, in the application of heavy-duty robots and industrial robots, the accuracy and durability of domestic components still have a certain distance from the world's top level.

The development of industries takes time. Jiang Yao believes that China's industrial application scenarios are diverse, and once Chinese enterprises accumulate experience, product upgrades and iterations will be faster. The good news is that domestic robot companies are getting closer and closer to foreign robot giants, even the booth positions are getting closer and closer. Jiang Yao pointed to the booth of the "Four Great Families" next door and said, "I hope in a few years, we can also stand there."