A brief discussion on the current situation, application characteristics and development trends of China's collaborative robot market

As an emerging category, Collaborative Robot (Cobot) has been designed with the goal of reducing the risk of injury and enabling safe direct interaction and contact with humans. It is lightweight, flexible, safe and reliable, easy to use, easy to deploy, and supports flexible production. The market has maintained a high-speed growth trend and is one of the fastest growing robot market segments in recent years and is favored by investment institutions.

Collaborative robots can be widely used in industries such as automobiles and parts, 3C, electronics, home appliances, kitchen and sanitary ware, daily chemicals, food and beverages, medicine, and metal processing to complete tasks such as equipment maintenance, grabbing and placing, loading and unloading, inter-process transfer, screw locking, assembly, gluing, spraying, riveting, bonding, packaging, palletizing, polishing, welding, quality control, etc. Moreover, with the continuous influx of emerging manufacturers and enterprises and the continuous release of downstream demand, the application industries and application scenarios of collaborative robots are also constantly expanding.

This article will briefly review the development history of collaborative robots, and analyze and forecast the current status, application characteristics and development trends of the collaborative robot market in China. (There is a detailed list, don't miss it!)

01The birth and development of collaborative robots

1. Main features of collaborative robots As the name implies, collaborative robots are robots designed to interact directly with humans in collaborative areas (areas where robots and humans can work at the same time). Compared with traditional industrial robots, collaborative robots have significant features such as safety, ease of use, and flexible deployment. ◉ In terms of safety , traditional industrial robots need to be installed within protective fences or other barriers to avoid harm to personnel, but this also greatly limits the application effect of industrial robots. The original intention of the design of collaborative robots is to improve the safety of robots, reduce the risk of robots causing harm to people during the production process, and combine human cognitive ability with the efficiency of robots. In order to achieve the safety of human-machine collaboration, collaborative robots generally adopt lightweight designs, such as lightweight bodies, and the application of endoskeleton design methods to limit operating speed and power; using technologies and methods such as torque, safety skin, and collision detection, they can perceive the surrounding environment and change their own actions and behaviors according to changes in the environment, and can safely interact and contact with people directly in a specific area. ◉ In terms of ease of use , collaborative robots greatly reduce the professional requirements of operators through drag-and-drop teaching and visual programming. Even operators without programming experience can easily program and debug collaborative robots. Early industrial robots usually require professionals to use professional robots and programming software for simulation, positioning, debugging and calibration. The programming threshold is high and the programming cycle is long. ◉ In terms of flexibility , traditional industrial robots are mostly fixed installations, and the tasks and operating ranges they perform are relatively limited. Collaborative robots are light and compact, and can be installed quickly. They can not only work in a small space, but also have a lightweight, modular, and highly integrated design that makes them easy to disassemble and transport. They can be redeployed in multiple applications in a short time and without changing the layout. Moreover, collaborative robots can be combined with mobile robots to form mobile collaborative robots, achieving a larger operating range and meeting the needs of more complex application scenarios. However, due to product positioning, collaborative robots also have obvious disadvantages. For example, compared with traditional industrial robots, collaborative robots have slower running speeds, lower repetition accuracy, and smaller loads. In terms of running speed, since collaborative robots must ensure safety, their motors need to take into account the function of safety protection. Therefore, collaborative robots run slower, usually only one-third to one-half of traditional industrial robots. For some application scenarios that prioritize speed, collaborative robots may not be able to perform these tasks well. In terms of accuracy, due to the need for multi-axis flexibility and its own weight limit, collaborative robots are prone to certain jitters after operation. Although major collaborative robot manufacturers have been continuously improving accuracy in recent years, there is still a gap in repeatability compared to traditional industrial robots. In terms of load, the load of collaborative robots on the market is mainly between 0.5kg and 20kg, while the maximum load of traditional industrial robots can reach hundreds of kilograms or even tons.

2. Development of collaborative robots The concept of collaborative robots was first proposed by two professors at Northwestern University in the United States, J. Edward Colgate and Michael Peshkin, in 1996. This concept was based on a project sponsored by the General Motors Foundation in 1995, which tried to find a way to make robots safe enough to work with workers. However, the world's first collaborative robot was not born in the United States, but in Denmark. In 2008, Universal Robots of Denmark launched the world's first commercially available collaborative robot UR5, which made it possible for anyone to operate a robot arm, and also demonstrated the emergence of truly collaborative robots around the world. Universal Robots has thus become the originator of collaborative robots and leads the development of the collaborative robot industry. Figure 1 UR5 collaborative robot handles the glue distribution work of plastic parts (Source: Universal Robots) Between 2012 and 2015, foreign collaborative robot brands surged, and manufacturers such as Rethink Robocs, Kuka, ABB, Fanuc, and Yaskawa successively launched collaborative robot products. At this time, the domestic market was still in its early stages. Since 2015, local collaborative robot manufacturers in China have begun to emerge. Domestic collaborative robot brand manufacturers such as Siasun, Aobo, Daming, Jieka, Yuejiang, Elite, Luoshi, and Siling have begun to emerge. Moreover, with the continuous release of downstream demand and the influx of emerging manufacturers, the heat of the collaborative robot track continues to heat up, and many investors have also begun to pay attention to the collaborative robot track. However, the development of the collaborative robot market has not been smooth sailing. For example, the once popular Rethink company announced its closure in 2018, and most of its assets and all patents were acquired by the German HAHN Group.

02 Overview of China’s collaborative robot market in 2022

As the world's largest industrial robot application market, China has been driven by the country's vigorous development of the robot industry and the rising demand for industrial robot applications in downstream industries in recent years. The production and sales volume of industrial robots and the market size have continued to expand, and the density of industrial robots has also continued to increase. While the domestic industrial robot market is developing overall in a positive direction, with production and sales volume, market size and density rising steadily, the collaborative robot market, as a vertical segment, has also maintained a good development trend. Not only has the market size continued to expand, but it has also formed a "hundred flowers blooming" market competition pattern. In addition, the capital market's investment in the field of collaborative robots has also remained active.

1. Sales volume is growing rapidly and the market scale is expanding continuously In terms of sales volume and market scale, data released by Gaogong Robot Industry Research Institute (GGII) showed that the sales volume of collaborative robots in China in 2021 was 18,623 units, a year-on-year increase of 87.62%; the market scale reached 2.039 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 76.84%, a significant increase. Among them, from 2016 to 2021, the average annual compound growth rate of sales volume and market scale of collaborative robots in China was 51.94% and 41.46% respectively.

Note: The above data does not include desktop collaborative arms Figure 2 China's collaborative robot market size from 2016 to 2021 Data source: Gaogong Robot Industry Research Institute (GGII) Combining the sales and market size of previous years, as well as the 2022 report card announced by major manufacturers in the collaborative robot market and their market expectations for 2023, China's collaborative robot sales and market size may continue to grow in 2022, and this growth trend will also continue in 2023. In recent years, China's collaborative robot market has continued to grow, and the main reasons include: ① Collaborative robots have adapted to the needs of flexible automation and production equipment safety. The manufacturing model of the manufacturing industry is changing from single and large-scale to multi-variety and small batch, which requires more flexible production and manufacturing, and at the same time further increases the demand for production equipment safety. Collaborative robots are safe and reliable, quick to install, and can be flexibly deployed, effectively meeting the needs of flexible automation and production equipment safety, and supporting flexible production methods. ② The price of collaborative robots continues to fall, the entry threshold continues to decrease, and many collaborative robot manufacturers have launched economical collaborative robot products. ③Compared with traditional industrial robots, collaborative robots have low deployment costs and a short payback period, and the awareness and recognition of collaborative robots on the application side are constantly increasing. ④The epidemic has accelerated the pace of transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry. Enterprises have increased their demand for transformation in manufacturing, human-machine collaboration, and flexible manufacturing. At the same time, the epidemic has also promoted contactless services, all of which have led to rapid growth in sales of lightweight and flexible collaborative robots. ⑤Collaborative robots have expanded into non-industrial application areas and have begun to ship in batches.