What opportunities are there for domestic robots to enter the mid-to-high-end field?

In 2018, domestic brand industrial robots accounted for 32.2% of the domestic market, with sales increasing by 16.2% year-on-year; sales of foreign brand industrial robots in China fell by 10.98% year-on-year.
　　

This set of data is certainly related to complex market environment factors, but it is perhaps also inseparable from the efforts of domestic robots in recent years to break through foreign brands.
　　

At the 2019 World Robot Conference, Qu Daokui, Chairman of the China Robot Industry Alliance, introduced a set of eye-catching data:
　　

The Chinese industrial robot market, which has been growing rapidly for many years, hit the brakes in 2018, with a year-on-year growth rate of 3.75%. Despite this, domestic robots still delivered a gratifying answer: in 2018, domestic brand industrial robots accounted for 32.2% of the domestic market, with sales increasing by 16.2% year-on-year; foreign brand industrial robots sales in China fell by 10.98% year-on-year.
　　

This set of data is certainly related to complex market environment factors, but it is perhaps also inseparable from the efforts of domestic robots in recent years to break through foreign brands.
　　

The domestic market is facing strong competition from foreign brands.
Looking at the global robotics industry, China is a huge market that cannot be ignored.
　　

The "China Robot Industry Development Report 2019" released by the China Electronics Society at the conference showed that in 2019, the scale of China's robot market is expected to reach US$8.68 billion, with an average growth rate of 20.9% from 2014 to 2019.
　　

Taking industrial robots, which account for the largest proportion, as an important manufacturing country, China has a strong demand for industrial robots: China's industrial robot market accounts for about one-third of the global market share, making it the world's largest industrial robot application market.
　　

However, it cannot be ignored that about two-thirds of the attractive pie of China's industrial robot market is currently taken by foreign brands, while domestic industrial robots, which started later, can only enjoy the remaining one-third.
　　

Statistics show that the market share of domestic brand industrial robots was 25.9% in 2013, which steadily increased to 32.7% in 2016. The share dropped to 26.7% in 2017 and rebounded to 32.2% in 2018.
　　

"Foreign robot manufacturers mainly target the mid-to-high-end market, while many domestic robot brands mainly target the mid-to-low-end market, and it is difficult for foreign brands to take a bite out of the pie." LuoShi Robotics is a technology-driven company. Han Fengtao, co-founder and chief technology officer of the company, hit the nail on the head when he was interviewed by Science and Technology Daily.
　　

Han Fengtao told reporters that robots are technology-intensive products, and most of their applications are concentrated in the mid-to-high-end market. "The domestic market has a huge demand for mid-to-high-end robots. Because the domestic automobile and mobile phone markets are both large, these two markets together account for nearly 70% of the current shipments of industrial robots." Han Fengtao said that the demand in the low-end market is relatively small, it is difficult to increase sales, and the profit is relatively low.
　　

"Especially in the application of the automotive industry, this is the shortcoming of Chinese robots." Qu Daokui pointed out that there may be two main reasons behind this: on the one hand, robots used in the automotive industry almost all require high quality and high reliability, and although domestic robots have made great improvements in these aspects, there is still a certain gap compared with foreign brands; on the other hand, the automotive industry has long been monopolized by foreign robot brands, which have long-term industry accumulation and brand effect, which is an advantage that domestic robots do not have.
　　

China is making efforts in the
research and development of mid-to-high-end robots. "In the current Chinese robot market, there are more domestic brands in the mid-to-low-end robots, and mid-to-high-end robots mainly rely on imports. But this situation is changing, and China is also carrying out the research and development and manufacturing of some mid-to-high-end robots." Sun Fuchun, director of the Intelligent Robot Research Center of the Artificial Intelligence Institute of Tsinghua University, said in an interview with Science and Technology Daily.
　　

The "China Robot Industry Development Report 2019" points out that the current research and development of industrial robots in China still focuses on breaking through the key core technologies of robots. With the joint efforts of government, industry, academia, research and application, the localization of controllers has been initially realized . The intelligence level of service robots has been rapidly improved, and has been running parallel with the first echelon of the world.
　　

Some subtle changes can be experienced at the 2019 World Robot Conference.
　　

Zhongrui Funing is a robotics company that focuses on medical robots and elderly care robots. It displayed an ophthalmic surgical robot called Ophthorobotics at the conference. Liu Qian, chairman of Zhongrui Funing Robotics, said that this ophthalmic surgical robot will be used to treat ophthalmic diseases such as fundus macular degeneration. It can be operated remotely by doctors, which can increase patient safety and comfort while reducing overall surgical time and the cost of medical staff and surgical facilities. The robot has completed animal experiments and plans to start clinical trials next year.
　　

Luoshi Robotics also aims to produce mid- to high-end industrial robots. Han Fengtao believes that using mid- to high-end domestic robots to replace mid- to high-end imported robots in the Chinese market is a very important breakthrough direction. Another direction is to find application areas that imported robot manufacturers have not yet paid attention to and open up new growth points.
　　

For example, China is an important tool production base in the world. Luoshi Robotics has identified this market and integrated mechanical technology and adaptation technology into its six-axis industrial robot, achieving precise force control and smooth force control functions, so that the robot can imitate the techniques of tool masters to sharpen ceramic and metal tools. This can help tool factories save costs and ensure the consistency of tool quality.
　　

"The entire Chinese manufacturing industry is undergoing transformation and upgrading, and domestic industrial robots must keep up with the pace and improve their quality," said Han Fengtao.
　　

We must be self-reliant and open to cooperation
in core technologies, which is a word that experts in China's robotics industry have repeatedly emphasized.
　　

"New materials, core components, main control chips, operating systems, as well as creative capabilities in areas such as autonomous learning, collaboration, control, and algorithms have become the core elements and professional directions of global competition in the field of robotics," said Huai Jinpeng, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the China Association for Science and Technology and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
　

When talking about the temporary slowdown in the growth of the robot market last year, Liu Qian said that the slowdown in market development would help everyone better understand the importance of core technologies and take root in core technologies more deeply. "As long as companies have the ability to develop core technologies, they will still be needed by the market. Not only now, but also in the future," Liu Qian said.
　　

Han Fengtao told Science and Technology Daily that the division of labor in the international market for core technologies related to robots is relatively clear. For example, Europe and Japan are strong in motors. International robot manufacturers generally purchase hardware globally and develop software independently.
　　

"Even so, China still needs to conduct research and development on core robot technologies, or at least master some core technologies, so that it can trade on an equal footing with other strong players in the global market. Otherwise, it will be easy to be strangled by others," Han Fengtao believes.
　　

Sun Fuchun also said that although a certain division of labor has been formed in the research and development of core robot technologies and core components internationally, China, as a major country, still needs to be self-reliant in core technologies related to the country's social and economic development, so as to avoid being passive.
　　

Of course, self-reliance does not mean working in isolation.
　　

"China started relatively late in the field of robotics, and its core technology research and development capabilities are relatively weak. However, some foreign research and development institutions have been in this field for more than ten years or even decades, and are many steps ahead of us." Liu Qian believes that instead of blindly starting from scratch, domestic robot manufacturers should open their minds to cooperation.
　　

According to Liu Qian, although Sino-Swiss Funing is a Chinese-funded robotics company, the company established a joint laboratory in Switzerland in 2013 and began to develop elderly care robots; in 2016, it established its own company in Sweden and set up a research and development team.
　　

"Currently, two-thirds of Zhongrui Funing's core technology R&D team is located abroad and one-third is located in China. In two years, the situation will be reversed, with two-thirds of the R&D team located in China and one-third located abroad." Liu Qian believes that technical and talent cooperation with advanced foreign R&D teams will be conducive to realizing the R&D plans of high-end robot products and quickly bringing them to market.
　　

"Chinese faces, especially some young Chinese faces, have appeared in many high-end robot research and development markets." Sun Fuchun is full of expectations for domestic robots. He believes that as time goes by, domestic brands will occupy an increasingly large share in the high-end robot market.