In the next five years, humanoid robots will achieve a "triple jump"

"In the future, there will be more robots than humans." At the 2023 World Conference, Musk's prediction was just made, and Fourier's universal humanoid robot GR-1 was unveiled.

In the middle, the tall and slender figure, a robot that resembles a human skeleton, walks with agile steps and big strides. On July 12, Fourier's universal humanoid robot GR-1 was officially released, and Fourier also shifted from the track of dedicated rehabilitation robots to the general robot technology platform.

"We hope to achieve mass production and delivery within one or two years, robots will be able to complete some general tasks deftly in about three years, and robots will truly enter ordinary people's homes in 5 to 10 years." Gu Jie, chairman and CEO of Fourier Intelligence, put forward a timetable. In the next five years, humanoid robots will achieve a "triple jump."

Universal Robots' Ultimate Pursuit: Well-developed limbs and a powerful brain

"Robots will definitely be universal in the future. One robot will use different apps to drive different tasks." Gu Jie believes that the transition from specialized to universal is the development trend of many technologies.

GR-1 is the size of an adult woman, and its walking speed is comparable to that of a normal adult, but its load-bearing capacity is equivalent to that of an adult man. GR-1 is 1.65 meters tall and weighs 55 kilograms. It has 40 degrees of freedom, the maximum joint module peak torque can reach 300NM, the walking speed can reach 5KM/h, and it can carry 50 kilograms. In the experimental video, GR-1 can walk fast, avoid obstacles quickly, climb up and down slopes steadily, and resist impact interference, etc., and these capabilities are only 1% of the capabilities of general robots.

Universal humanoid robots should eventually have a body structure similar to that of humans, including a head, trunk and limbs, walk on two feet, have a certain degree of cognitive and decision-making intelligence, and perform tasks flexibly. This places higher demands on the robot's "strength" enhancement and "weight" control, just like it is not an easy task for a person to increase strength while losing weight. Six years ago, when the exoskeleton robot was first worn on the patient, the strength of each joint of the robot was insufficient, and coupled with the original weight of the device, the patient needed to use two crutches to maintain balance after wearing it.

In Fourier Intelligence's view, only motor ability and cognitive ability can make a general-purpose robot. In the future, Fourier Intelligence will focus on making the motor ability of humanoid robots stronger and stronger, while cognitive ability will be developed together with ecological partners. Fourier Robotics will be open.

Gu Jie described the future capabilities of general-purpose robots: "I hope that the next generation of robots will be able to run, jump long or high. At the same time, the analysis and processing capabilities will be further optimized, so that when people give instructions, they can understand the specific semantics, respond and complete certain tasks independently."

After 8 years of “building blocks”, the rehabilitation robot “transforms” into a general-purpose robot

Making a general-purpose robot is the dream that Gu Jie had planted when he was in college.

However, the robot's athletic ability and market application conditions were not yet mature at that time, so Fourier Intelligence took a different approach. Starting in 2015, the team first targeted rehabilitation robots, and in the following years, they launched more than 30 products including upper limb rehabilitation robots and lower limb exoskeleton robots, and took the lead in launching the first commercial lower limb exoskeleton robot in China.

It was not until 2019 that Fourier Intelligence quietly launched the general humanoid robot project.

"It's like Lego blocks, which have to be made up of individual blocks. We started assembling the key modules needed for humanoid robots very early on." Gu Jie said that after years of development, Fourier Intelligence has accumulated more than 100 intellectual property rights in underlying technologies such as integrated actuators, modular design, and bionic structures, and has a certain competitiveness in the field of actuator joints.

What is the killer application for replacing humans with machines?

The trend of replacing humans with machines has swept the world, but there have always been two voices in the industry: one is that all industries do not necessarily need humanoid robots, and special-purpose robots are sufficient; the other is that general-purpose robots are the ultimate form.

"If humanoid robots can be widely used, the environment does not need to be changed. The most important thing is to find application scenarios. Just like us humans, they can be doctors, drivers, chefs, firefighters... We only need to do some development and adaptation in special scenarios, which is equivalent to giving the robot a profession. Compared with humanoid robots, the disadvantage of quadruped robots is that they have a lower field of view and wheeled robots cannot overcome obstacles." Gu Jie told the IT Times reporter.

Robots in the future may be your assistants, partners, or even colleagues.

After 8 years of development, Fourier rehabilitation robots have been deployed in more than 2,000 hospitals in more than 40 countries and regions, laying a solid foundation for the large-scale production and implementation of its universal humanoid robots. As a natural result, Fourier universal humanoid robots will also take rehabilitation and elderly care as the first implementation scenario.

From WABOT, developed by Waseda University in 1972, to Opmus, which debuted in 2022, human scientists have been researching and developing humanoid robots for half a century.

Talking about the current gap between domestic general humanoid robots and the world, Gu Jie said frankly: "The gap does exist at present, but the development of robots in China will be very rapid in the future, and the iteration cycle will become shorter and shorter." Fourier Intelligence has established a general robot technology platform and opened up the ecosystem in order to drive the localization of the upstream and downstream industrial chains and form a truly domestic general robot ecosystem.