Amazing Tesla Robot!

Some organizations have judged that the Tesla humanoid robot Optimus unveiled this time is equipped with 12 motors each on the arms, palms, and legs, and 2 motors each on the neck and torso, a total of 40 motors, all of which use similar new components and structural design methods, forming two main forms: rotary actuators and linear actuators.

This system must contain at least three series of motors + planetary roller screw actuators, and three series of motors + harmonic rotary actuators. Of course, it does not rule out more new components that we have no way of knowing about.

As the marginal changes in Tesla's industrial chain become more and more obvious , Tesla's new way of producing and combining components has driven the market for new components such as planetary roller screws, hollow cup motors, and needle bearing products.

Because the space for parts such as the fingers of humanoid robots is small, the finger joints of humanoid robots will inevitably need to be equipped with more miniaturized motors that can output greater force in the future. At present, similar new hollow cup motors can indeed more perfectly meet the needs of humanoid robots for lightweight finger joints, etc.

Although the advantages of these products are that they can self-lock and provide greater thrust, the difficulty lies in their small size and the difficulty of processing the nuts. The overall demand in the original market is low, so most of them require customized development and production.

Tesla's high expectations for the market have led to parts companies scrambling to try to reach cooperation with Tesla. The agency pointed out that if Tesla's robots reach a million units, the cost of each unit is expected to reach 190,000 yuan, of which the hollow cup motor module of each robot is worth about 7,200 yuan, which may also make suppliers willing to try to open molds and customize products for Tesla.

Thanks to the news that Tesla is looking for Chinese suppliers for comparison, the share prices of companies such as Ming's Electric and Jiangsu Leili have risen sharply in the secondary market. Southern Precision, which was reported to have sent relevant samples to Tesla in the United States and received good test results and high recognition, has become a star target.

The market hype logic is also very simple. On the one hand, the application field of hollow cups is relatively high-end, and the design and manufacturing barriers are high. The application of humanoid robots is optimistic about the market size of hollow cup motors. On the other hand, Tesla suppliers are also expected to replicate the growth trajectory of cooperation with Apple suppliers, which is worth investing in.

After obtaining initial support from suppliers, Tesla was able to quickly form several overall development plans with the help of its modular independent design, and then let suppliers carry out processing and molding according to this set of plans and indicators.

Then, Tesla engineers will put this solution into the virtual simulation software, and conduct detailed drills and parameter adjustments based on the simulation software of the real environment to obtain the most suitable dynamic parameters for the robot's movement. Based on the actual situation, they will judge the problems of the components in certain actions, optimize the structure and packaging of the modular actuator, and complete a forward design cycle.

Thanks to the complete system design from scratch, engineers are able to optimize the product in depth and detail according to design requirements, and ultimately quickly deliver and iterate design results.

This vertical design process from 0 to 1 allows Tesla engineers to deeply design electromagnetics and gear sets, and complete a very simple and compact packaging design, so that the size and movement ability of the final robot reach an ideal state, and also greatly reduces the workload of the final system integration.

4. Conclusion and the future

Tesla's humanoid robot production is still in the early stages of supply chain cooperation, and there is no clear list of suppliers yet. However, if Tesla's original design is followed, a humanoid robot may eventually need to have more than 200 degrees of freedom, of which the hands alone have 27 degrees of freedom, and the power consumption for fast walking is only 500W, which will inevitably require a very large supply chain to support it.

When the leading suppliers emerge, it is not easy for latecomers to imitate and surpass the technological moat brought by the supply chain. For example, when demand in China exploded, in order to keep up with Apple, global mobile phone manufacturers came to China one after another and began to seek help from suppliers, and eventually provided intellectual property rights in exchange for faster response, thus narrowing the gap with Apple.

Apple's series of supply chain system construction activities have helped Chinese suppliers obtain more orders. This magnitude advantage has reshaped the global mobile phone industry and enabled suppliers to improve their understanding of cutting-edge manufacturing. Of course, Apple has also successfully taken the throne of the global field in this supply chain cooperation.

It is very difficult for Apple to abandon this supply chain system at present. Because even if it builds factories outside of China, the subcontractors and suppliers of the factories are still from mainland China. Apple and China are largely bound by deep industrial cooperation.

Today, the wheel of technology and industrial development has turned to a new product form, robots. my country has installed more than 50% of the global total, ranking first in the world for nine consecutive years, and once again has a complete industrial chain that has attracted global attention.

At present, domestic suppliers already have strong low-cost large-scale mass production capabilities, and are most likely to be the first to introduce Tesla's robot supply chain and seize the industry's initiative.

It might not be surprising if Musk eventually chooses Chinese suppliers for his robot parts.

Review editor: Liu Qing