Shanghai Beidou Navigation Silk Road
On September 20, the 8th Silk Road International Expo and China East-West Cooperation and Investment and Trade Fair opened in Xi'an. This Silk Road Expo lasts for 5 days, with the theme of "Deepening Connectivity and Expanding Economic and Trade Cooperation". There are 5 exhibition areas including international exchange exhibition, inter-provincial cooperation exhibition, transportation and logistics exhibition, advanced manufacturing exhibition and modern energy exhibition area, with a total exhibition area of 72,000 square meters. During the Silk Road Expo, more than a dozen important conferences and forums will be held.
At this Silk Road Expo, the Shanghai exhibition group mainly plays the "technology card". It is jointly composed of 27 scientific research institutions and technology-based enterprises, focusing on displaying scientific and technological innovation achievements and cutting-edge products. The relevant person in charge of the Shanghai exhibition group said that for this Silk Road Expo, Shanghai has combined the characteristic and advantageous industries and actual development needs of the western region, focusing on intelligent manufacturing, new energy, Beidou navigation and other fields, and organized a number of technology transfer and achievement transformation market potential, which can represent Shanghai's scientific and technological innovation level. The purpose is to further strengthen the scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation between Shanghai and the western region, and give play to the radiation effect of the construction results of Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Center to the western region.
Beidou navigation is a major focus of the Shanghai exhibition group. Many companies based in the Beidou Xihongqiao base have made a "group appearance" in Xi'an.
Founded in 2010, Kobet Aviation Group is a company settled in the Beidou Xihongqiao Base and is currently one of the largest industrial drone companies in China. At this Silk Road Expo, Shanghai Kobet brought a number of flagship products, intending to further open up the market in the western region.
Cai Zhiwei, the person in charge of the Kobit booth, told reporters that the common features of the products on display this time are heavy load, long endurance, and multiple mounting points, which can adapt to a variety of different application scenarios. Taking the company's "Ruyunlong II-P" as an example, the maximum load of this six-rotor drone can reach 15 kilograms, and the other "Chachihu M12" vertical take-off and landing fixed-wing drone can carry 25 kilograms. The flight time of both products is more than 1 hour.
"For the drone industry, the western region has many application scenarios and great market potential. Our participation in this exhibition is not only to showcase our brand and strength, but also to seek more practical cooperation opportunities." Cai Zhiwei said that in addition to the fields of public security and emergency rescue, drones can also be used in equipment inspection and maintenance work in large energy projects and industrial and mining enterprises. There are many such application scenarios in the western region, and they generally have a certain scale. In the future, they may become an important stage for industrial drones to display their skills in the western region.
A vertical take-off and landing fixed-wing drone exhibited by a Shanghai company. Photo by Yu Liang
Another company from the Beidou Xihongqiao Base, Shanghai Haiji Information Technology Co., Ltd., focuses on the research and development, manufacturing and industrial application of Beidou high-definition navigation and positioning and integrated communication technology. In view of the frequent geological disasters in the western region, the company focused on displaying a variety of signal antennas and handheld terminals based on Beidou technology.
Bao Kai, the person in charge of the Haiji Information booth, said that the western region is vast and sparsely populated. If disaster prevention and relief work relies solely on manpower, the efficiency will be limited. Therefore, it is urgent to shift from "human defense" to "technical defense": "Relying on Beidou navigation technology, both pre-disaster prevention and post-disaster rescue can become more accurate and efficient. For the western region, Beidou technology has huge room for development."
The cofe robot coffee kiosk brought by Shanghai Heitun Robot Technology Co., Ltd. is one of the most eye-catching exhibits in the Shanghai exhibition area of this Silk Road Expo, attracting many visitors to try it on the spot.
Taking cups, dropping ice, pumping water, grinding beans, extracting, frothing milk, serving cups... these professional and complex operations can be completed by flexible robotic arms in just a few seconds. According to the person in charge of the booth, Heitun Robotics was founded in 2017, and the robot coffee kiosk unveiled in Xi'an is the company's fifth generation product. At present, the company's products have been implemented in 15 provinces and cities in China, and officially entered the Xi'an market last year.
In recent years, the domestic tourism market has continued to be hot, and the western region is becoming another popular tourist destination, with a rapid growth in the number of tourists. Facing an increasingly younger consumer group, coffee shops can be regarded as a "standard feature" of scenic spots. However, the tourism market in the western region has distinct off-seasons and peak seasons, and the operating costs of traditional coffee shops cannot be underestimated. Fully automatic, 24-hour robot coffee kiosks are a solution.
The relevant person in charge of Heitun Robotics said that the robot coffee kiosk can not only greatly save a series of operation and maintenance costs such as labor, rent, and energy of traditional physical coffee shops, but also make coffee more efficient and of more stable quality. After the product entered Xi'an last year, the market response was good, giving the company the confidence and motivation to further expand the market in the western region. If it can be more widely stationed in local scenic spots, museums and other application scenarios, there will be huge room for imagination in the future. In addition, the company also hopes to rely on the Silk Expo platform to accelerate the pace of "going out" and expand overseas markets such as Central Asia and the Middle East.
A robot coffee kiosk exhibited by a Shanghai company. Photo by Yu Liang
It is reported that since the 7th Silk Road Expo, a total of 54.421 billion US dollars of foreign investment projects have been signed, and a total of 9197.754 billion yuan of domestic joint project contracts have been signed. The Silk Road Expo has become a high-level open platform that focuses on deepening connectivity, aims to expand economic and trade cooperation, actively participates in the construction of the Western Land-Sea Corridor, and deepens trade, investment, cooperation and exchanges with Central Asian, West Asian and South Asian countries and provinces, cities and districts.