Focus interview: "Robots+" accelerating global progress | Biology | Robots

CCTV News: At the recently concluded Zhongguancun Forum, the Science and Technology Expo, which showcases the latest global technological progress and significant achievements, was one of the important contents. The robotics sector is particularly eye-catching. Robots are also one of the key directions for China's future development. The Implementation Plan for "Robot+" Application Action, issued by 17 departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, proposes that by 2025, the density of manufacturing robots will double compared to 2020; Focusing on 10 key application areas, breaking through more than 100 innovative robot application technologies and solutions. China's robotics industry is about to usher in significant development.

Not long ago, at the Zhongguancun Forum's Science and Technology Expo, various cool robots appeared one after another, which opened one's eyes. In fact, some of these seemingly sci-fi robots have quietly entered our real lives.

At a rehabilitation center in Fengtai, Beijing, some patients who were originally struggling with mobility are learning how to recover walking with the help of exoskeleton robots.

In 2017, an accident caused Shao Haipeng to have a high paraplegia, completely losing consciousness below the chest. Six months later, on the advice of a doctor, he began to try using an exoskeleton robot for rehabilitation training.

The lower limb exoskeleton robot is a system equipped outside the human body. It can sense the movement of the human body and the surrounding environment through sensors on the soles of its feet, and then use the control system behind it to coordinate the robot's movements and forces at a calculation frequency of thousands of times per second, making it adapt to the human body's movements. In repeated training, the lower limb exoskeleton robot continuously stimulates the patient's nerves based on the principle of "neural plasticity" to help him reshape and restore some mobility.

Shuai Mei, Chairman of Beijing Da'ai Robotics Technology Co., Ltd. and Professor at Beihang University, said, "It is through the training of exoskeleton robots that he can establish the correct walking mode and correct proprioception, allowing him to walk again."

Due to early intervention, his condition gradually improved after two courses of rehabilitation training. In 2018, he even walked 42.22 kilometers in 9 days wearing an exoskeleton robot, setting a world record for robot walking marathons. He also attended the official flame gathering ceremony for the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics. Now Shao Haipeng has set a small goal for himself.

Shao Haipeng said, "My small goal is to build a power assisted bicycle. I'm going to take a look around China and see how big China is."

Hu Xiaolei and Shao Haipeng have very similar experiences. At first, he was completely unable to move or even sit in a wheelchair, but now he is a member of the national men's wheelchair basketball team.

Shao Haipeng and Hu Xiaolei are both wearing exoskeleton rehabilitation robots developed by Beijing Daai. This is China's first lower limb exoskeleton robot certified by the National Medical Products Administration. At present, exoskeleton rehabilitation robots have become effective tools for treating major malignant diseases such as spinal injuries, lower limb paralysis, and hemiplegia.

Shuai Mei: "The country has already introduced an implementation plan. As industry insiders, what we need to do is to continue to refine and implement this plan. China has over 80 million disabled people and hundreds of millions of elderly people, who are the focus of attention in the future. In the future, we will create more solutions that meet people's needs based on different application scenarios."

Exoskeleton robots are one of the many robots that can be used not only for rehabilitation training, but also in many fields such as elderly care, national defense, and manufacturing. Nowadays, there are not only many types of robots, but also a wide range of application scenarios. In order to further expand the application scenarios of robots and promote the development of the robotics industry, 17 departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently released the "Robot+" Application Action Implementation Plan, proposing to double the density of robots in China's manufacturing industry by 2025 compared to 2020. The plan will focus on ten key application areas, break through more than 100 innovative application technologies and solutions for robots, promote more than 200 typical application scenarios of robots with high technological level, innovative application modes, and significant application effects, and create a number of benchmark enterprises, application experience centers, and experimental verification centers for "robot+" applications. China's robotics industry will usher in a major explosion.

Liang Liang, Deputy Secretary General of the Chinese Electronics Society and Deputy Secretary General of the World Robot Conference: "The Implementation Plan will help strengthen the market competitiveness of robot independent brands, accelerate the self-reliance and self-improvement of China's robot industry, and also drive the intelligent transformation and upgrading of the first, second and third industries, providing strong support for promoting Chinese path to modernization."

Zhao Chunjiang, academician of the CAE Member and director of the National Agricultural Informatization Engineering Technology Research Center, said, "The main purpose is to promote the high-quality development of our national industrial economy, especially the manufacturing sector, and conform to the global trend of intelligent technology development."

At present, the robotics industry is entering a window of upgrading and leapfrog development, greatly changing human production and lifestyle, injecting strong momentum into economic and social development. In order to seize this opportunity, China has formulated a series of policies to develop the robotics industry. The release of the "Robot+" Application Action Plan can be said to provide a roadmap for the next walking animation.

Zhao Chunjiang: "It highlights the creation of application scenarios, as well as the upgrading and innovative development of industrial technology. In fact, it is a specific action plan to promote the implementation of the '14th Five Year Plan' robot industry development plan."

The Implementation Plan focuses on ten major areas, including manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, elderly care services, education, etc. So, why focus on these ten major areas?

Liang Liang said, "These fields have the characteristics of good application foundation, wide coverage, and strong radiating driving effect, and have typical promotion and application. Taking these fields as the entry point will play an effective demonstration and driving role in cultivating new formats and expanding new scenarios in the robotics industry."

Robots are highly flexible automated machines. It possesses some intelligent abilities similar to humans or organisms, such as perception, planning, action, and collaboration. According to the application field, robots are divided into industrial robots and service robots, with exoskeleton robots being service robots. There are many types of service robots, mainly used in many fields closely related to people's lives, such as retail, logistics, medical, education, security, etc. At Peking Union Medical College Hospital, a teratoma removal surgery is being carried out in an orderly manner. However, Dr. Sun, the chief surgeon, did not stand in front of the operating table, but sat next to the computer. Originally, he was using a single hole laparoscopic surgical robot to perform surgery on patients. 20 minutes later, the surgery ended smoothly.

The single hole laparoscopic surgical robot used by Dr. Sun was developed by Beijing Shurui. Driven by 68 high-precision servo motors, the single hole laparoscopic surgical robot can rotate freely at 540 degrees and achieve precise sub millimeter level control thousands of times per second, completing tasks that cannot be completed by human hands. In the past, performing similar surgeries required drilling four holes in the patient's body, but now only one is needed.

Endoscopic surgical robots represent the development direction of future surgical procedures and have high technological barriers. American companies have long held a monopolistic position, exporting only porous endoscope robots that require drilling four to five holes on patients to China, while more advanced single hole robots are prohibited from exporting to China. Beijing Shurui has broken this technological blockade.

The Implementation Plan points out the need to promote the application of robots in hospital rehabilitation, telemedicine, health and epidemic prevention scenarios. Encourage hospitals with conditions and needs to use robots for precise minimally invasive surgery.

Xu Kai, founder of Beijing Shurui Technology Co., Ltd. and professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said, "Our specific implementation plan is to jointly build clinical training centers with influential hospitals in different regions. We believe that the new generation of surgical robots can be quickly spread on the land of China with the help of the 'Robot+' policy."

Service robots are good assistants in people's daily lives, and industrial robots are mostly used in industrial scenarios, accounting for the majority of robots. They can greatly improve production quality and efficiency. In 1982, China's first industrial robot was born in Shenyang.

Industrial robots have the characteristics of precision, efficiency, stability, and intelligence, which help enterprises reduce costs and increase efficiency, compensate for labor shortages, and reduce production risks. After years of development, Shenyang Xinsong has mastered the three core automation application technologies of welding, assembly, and logistics, has more than 1300 invention patents, and has developed over a hundred robots in ten categories. Xinsong people vividly divide these products into "hands" and "feet". "Hand" refers to various robotic arms and robots.

At the scene, the reporter also saw many "feet", which are mobile robots. For example, mobile robots can be used in the logistics industry, medication delivery robots can be used in medical institutions, and chassis assembly mobile robots can be used in automobile manufacturing.

Since 2013, China has been the world's largest and fastest-growing industrial robot market for nine consecutive years. At present, China's manufacturing robot density ranks fifth in the world, reaching 322 robots per 10000 workers, but it is only one-third of that of South Korea, which ranks first. Therefore, the "Robot+" Application Action Implementation Plan released this time plans to double the density of robots. In the future, with the maturity of core technologies such as high-end chips and operating systems, industrial robots will be widely used in more fields.

At present, the trend of aging in China continues to intensify, and the problems of reduced labor force and rising labor costs are becoming increasingly apparent. Experts say that automation is the most reliable way to improve the productivity of existing workers. In 2022, the size of the Chinese robot market is expected to reach 118 billion yuan. The robotics industry will experience explosive growth with the expansion of application scenarios.

The application of robots is a major trend. With the integration and application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G, big data, and cloud computing in the field of robotics, the intelligence and networking level of robots will continue to improve, and it will also change the production methods of manufacturing and other industrial fields. The strategy of independent innovation has given us the foundation, confidence, and ability to seize the opportunities of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, seize the opportunity, seize the opportunity, and achieve great success, consolidating the foundation and security of technological self-reliance and self-improvement, which is the foundation of national strength.