Domestic 3D scanning technology has achieved a breakthrough, and the price is only 1% of similar products

"2019CCTV China Entrepreneurship Model Award Ceremony"

CCTV host: Next, we would like to invite Mr. Cao (Mr. Cao Dewang, founder of Fuyao Glass) to announce the next winner of the 2019 CCTV China Entrepreneurship Role Model on the spot.

Mr. Cao Dewang: The 2019 CCTV Chinese Entrepreneurship Role Model is Zhou Xiang.

Award Introduction:

 
Image source: CCTV Finance

"This is the world's smallest high-precision 3D scanner, with a scanning speed of 0.1 seconds and an accuracy error of 0.01 mm, which is one-seventh of a human hair. The core component of this high-end product is a tiny chip, and its inventor is Zhou Xiang. Zhou Xiang positioned his entrepreneurial direction on breakthroughs in underlying chips and algorithms. After ten years of hard work and nearly 30 iterations, Zhou Xiang's team has turned a traditional 3D imaging device the size of a computer host into a chip smaller than a fingernail, which is world-leading and only 1% of similar foreign products. The embedded chip is made into a high-precision 3D industrial camera, which is installed on the robot, just like having a pair of intelligent eyes. The innovative breakthroughs in underlying technology have enabled 3D technology to be widely used in high-end manufacturing, education, medical care, cultural relics protection, public safety, and home entertainment. From following to leading, Zhou Xiang is moving towards higher precision."

Personal impression:

Watching the "2019CCTV China Entrepreneurship Model Awards Ceremony" was even more exciting and moving than watching "Moving China". Zhou Xiang is the winner of the entrepreneurship model recommended by Mr. Cao Dewang, which makes me want to learn more about Zhou Xiang's team and the 3D scanner technology which is a bit mysterious to me.

What is a 3D scanner?

Image source: Zhixiang Optoelectronics

A 3D (three-dimensional) scanner is a scientific instrument. It is different from ordinary scanners. It is a high-tech that integrates optical, electromechanical and computer technologies. It is mainly used to scan the spatial shape and structure of an object to obtain the spatial coordinates of the object's surface. It is used to detect and analyze the shape (geometric structure) and appearance data (such as color, surface albedo and other properties) of objects or environments in the real world. The collected data is often used for three-dimensional reconstruction calculations to build digital models of actual objects in the virtual world. These models are widely used in industrial design, defect detection, reverse engineering, robot guidance, geomorphology, medical information, bioinformatics, criminal identification, digital cultural relics collection, film production, game creation materials and other fields.

What exactly did Zhou Xiang’s team do for 3D scanners?

• Before talking about what the team did, we first need to understand what kind of team it is?

It is understood that this is a typical team that combines industry, academia and research to produce results, relying on famous research institutions such as Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an Institute of Optics and Computer Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. What's more coincidental is that the two initial partners of Zhixiang Optoelectronics are a pair of master and apprentice, namely Associate Professor Zhou Xiang from the School of Mechanical Engineering of Xi'an Jiaotong University and his student Dr. Yang Tao. As a start-up company, Zhixiang Optoelectronics currently has more than 50 employees, of which 6 backbones are alumni of Xi'an Jiaotong University.

 
Image source: Zhixiang Optoelectronics

• Secondly, what kind of opportunity gave this team or someone in the team the idea of ​​starting a business using domestic 3D scanners?

When he was a doctoral supervisor at Xi'an Jiaotong University, he often led his students to participate in various competitions and tried to bring the laboratory's technological achievements to the market. In 2013, the "Challenge Cup Team" led by Zhou Xiang won the first prize for cross-innovation with the 3D human body rapid scanner project. Because the design has strong market characteristics, it soon got its first customer. Coincidentally, plastic surgery was very popular in those years. Perhaps that was the application that was closest to face recognition at the time. So the first "3D face scanner" for face effect display was born half a year later. Although it was not as light and intelligent as the later advanced products, it was well received at the time because the price was only one-tenth of the market price.

In addition, Zhou Xiang said in an interview with Qiuerjun that his certainty that " artificial intelligence + 3D imaging" will become a future trend came from the inspiration of an acquisition event. In 2014, the global social giant Facebook acquired the virtual reality headset manufacturer Oculus for US$2 billion. This move allowed the outside world to see that  VR and AR  will become new technological trends. At the same time, artificial intelligence has also developed for a period of time and is becoming more mature.

Team, technology, product prototype, financial support, profit margin, market, industry trends... a series of conditions were ready like the right time, right place and right people. So in July 2014, Zhixiang Optoelectronics was officially established, focusing on "3D imaging + artificial intelligence" technology and supporting software and hardware solutions as well as machine vision artificial intelligence.

 
Information source: Investment community

• Finally, what did the team do to achieve its goal and what were the results?

All the achievements are hard-won, not to mention that this is a breakthrough from zero to one in China.

The first problem encountered in the transformation from scientific research works to products is the dilemma of customization. There is basically no concept of mass production; the second is the market capacity problem caused by high prices (mainly used in professional fields such as medical and industrial, and there is no entry into the broader consumer market). What this young team pursues is to truly improve the technology and serve the entire society and industry; finally, as Zhou Xiang said at the 2019CCTV China Entrepreneurship Model Awards Ceremony, "Borrowing other people's core components to complete something is always a worthless thing. I must make my own chips. Only companies with bottom-level innovation can control the product needs of different industries and change the entire product and industry ecology." However, it is not easy to innovate from the bottom up.

In order to solve these problems and realize their ideals, they based themselves on traditional optics and computer algorithms, tackled the underlying chip technology, and through continuous trial and error, error correction and improvement, they finally condensed the main functions of the 3D scanner, which was originally the size of a computer cabinet, into a chip the size of a fingernail through the self-developed optical chip and imaging algorithm chip (according to official news from Zhixiang Optoelectronics, the chip is in the pre-production stage), while the speed and scanning density have been improved from the original 10 seconds and 30,000 points to the current 0.01 seconds and 1 million points, and the positioning accuracy has also reached 0.01 mm. At the same time, the team also created the "Xiangxin Second Generation" 3D artificial intelligence platform in 2018, empowering hardware with 3D massive data and 3D artificial intelligence algorithms as the core, and achieved China's local 3D reconstruction ecology.

 
Image source: chinanews

Take the Fingo S1, a new generation of portable 3D Android scanner launched in 2019, as an example. As a consumer-grade product, it is the first portable 3D smart terminal in China. It uses "3D modeling + artificial intelligence" technology, equipped with a 7.0-inch ultra-thin high-definition touch screen, a 6-core processor, 64G memory, and self-developed optics and AI chips. It is the crystallization of embedded computing power and cloud storage, and can scan and output three-dimensional models with clear textures and realistic colors anytime and anywhere. The main function is to assist campuses in carrying out information technology practice activities such as modeling, and to cultivate students' ability to focus on creativity and practice. In terms of the difficulty of operation, there is no need for operators who master 3D restoration technology. Ordinary people can pick up the device and scan to form an image without the help of auxiliary equipment such as computers.

Isn't it interesting? It makes me want to buy one. (Not a product promotion, just personal interest)

The selling price is only 1% of the original price?

Continuing with the topic above, if I want to buy one for fun, will my empty pockets be able to pay for it? So I started to pay attention to its price. Combined with my sensitivity to price figures when watching the "2019CCTV China Entrepreneurship Model Awards Ceremony" (after all, I am poor), how cheap is this "only 1% of similar foreign products"? As a media person, I still have to pursue the principle of truth and find out.

Zhixiang Optoelectronics Fingo S1 (price: 16,000)

 
Image source: taobao

Main comparison parameters:

1. Resolution: 2~13 million pixels (camera resolution 13 million*2)

2. Scanning accuracy: 0.1mm

3. Dot pitch: 0.12mm

4. Scanning range: horizontal 200mm*300mm*250mm, vertical 300mm*200*250mm

5. Scanning speed: ≤2min/circle

6. Splicing method: fully automatic turntable splicing

7. Support 3D printing formats: stl, ply, obj

8. Body size and weight: 192mm*122mm*15mm, 520g

MICIOE (Price: 785,000)

 
Image source: taobao

Main comparison parameters:

1. Resolution: 1.3 million pixels

2. Scanning accuracy: ≤0.1mm

3. Dot pitch: 0.17mm~0.2mm

4. Scanning range: 200mm*150mm (in free scanning mode)

5. Scanning speed: <3min/circle