The black technology in "The Wandering Earth 2" has become a reality? This exoskeleton robot company has completed a new round of financing

From technology to reality, and then from medical care to industry and ordinary people's homes...

The Wandering Earth 2, which created a box office record of 4.029 billion yuan and ranked tenth in the cumulative box office of Chinese films, has left a strong mark in the history of Chinese films with its top visual effects and outstanding humanistic communication. The spaceships, mechas, space stations, and robots in the movie all demonstrate the magnificence of technology and have also triggered a wave of hard technology. Among various industrial machinery, mechanical exoskeleton armor is eye-catching.

In the movie, the exoskeleton robot appears in the form of a power armor. Human engineers use powerful exoskeleton robots to easily lift "huge objects" that are beyond human power, providing strong support for the construction of the space station. Although the movie has been artistically expanded and magnified, the film's partner "Aosha Intelligence" has already put the "black technology" of exoskeleton robots into reality.

Aosha Intelligent's exploration has provided a new direction and successful example for the industrialization of exoskeleton robots. From movies to actual commercial use, exoskeleton robots are rapidly building a bridge from "science fiction" to "reality". Aosha Intelligent has embarked on a development path that is unique to it.

Recently, Aosha Intelligent officially announced the completion of its Series A financing, which was exclusively invested by Guoyi Capital, and before that, the company had been co-invested by well-known funds including Jiuhe Venture Capital, Xiangfeng Changqing, and Inno Angel. It is reported that this round of financing will be used to enhance the core technology of the company's exoskeleton products, accelerate the iteration and upgrade of core products and the development of new products, and improve the team structure and product market promotion.

01 How did the exoskeleton robot company that didn’t want to be “Iron Man” break out of the circle?

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in the Science Park of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Aosha Intelligent is a high-tech company that develops and manufactures robots based on exoskeleton technology platform. It is committed to the research and development and manufacturing of exoskeleton robot products in the fields of industry, medical care and education, and provides customers with supporting solutions.

How did Aosha Intelligence, which was founded only a few years ago, stand out from many companies, win the big IP of "The Wandering Earth", and capture the favor of capital?

First, rely on technology, second, rely on characteristics.

02Technology is the biggest moat

As the name suggests, an exoskeleton robot is a mechanical device that can carry the human body. The mechanical structure system is the "skeleton" of the exoskeleton robot, which determines its load capacity and motion characteristics; the sensor and other control systems are its "flesh and blood", responsible for coordinating operations and giving humans an enhanced extension of their limb strength, allowing humans to complete complex tasks more easily, thereby achieving collaborative control between humans and machines.

The development of exoskeleton robots requires cross-disciplinary support from electromechanical, control, materials, and other disciplines, as well as support from multiple technical indicators such as lightweight, stability, and coordination. Product development is difficult and requires experimental iterations to optimize product performance.

Therefore, technology has become the biggest competitive barrier in the exoskeleton robot industry, and possessing independent core technology is an important cornerstone for companies to enter the competition.

Although Aosha Intelligent has been established for a short time, its technology accumulation is not inferior to others. The company's CEO Xu Zhenhua majored in electromechanics and has worked in industrial giants such as FANUC and SAIC-GM. In addition, he has successful entrepreneurial experience in two medical rehabilitation and exoskeleton robot companies, Jinghe Robotics and Fourier Intelligence. The team members are strong and their design and development experience covers robot control systems, human-computer interaction, machine vision and other fields.

With full R&D skills, the Aosha Intelligent Team completed the construction of a product matrix from 0 to 1 in 4 years. Today, the exoskeleton products have achieved full coverage of the upper limbs, waist, lower limbs, and whole body, and have obtained ISO9001 quality certification and EU CE safety certification, and have successfully entered the overseas market.

03 Targeting the pan-industry and entering the C-end civilian field

"Our ultimate goal is to make civilian-grade exoskeleton robots priced under 10,000 yuan, so that everyone can buy an exoskeleton robot with the price of a mobile phone."

Exoskeleton robots are essentially a technology that collaborates with humans to work. The current research and development and commercial applications of the exoskeleton robot industry are mainly focused on medical rehabilitation. The products mainly serve patients with mobility impairments and help them with rehabilitation training.

The medical rehabilitation needs are clear and the relatively single functional target requirements have reduced the difficulty of developing exoskeleton robots to a certain extent. However, due to strict medical safety verification and personalized customization requirements, the product costs are generally high.

Unlike most companies that choose rehabilitation medicine as their "hardcore" direction, Aosha Intelligent has identified the market opportunities for the industrial and civilian use of exoskeleton robots, and has significantly reduced manufacturing costs through lightweight product design. At the same time, it has simplified the structure and developed standardized products for the C-end without any personalized customization, making the products more suitable for repetitive operations.

In the industrial field, exoskeleton robots can provide strength support for operators, effectively enhance physical strength, improve work efficiency, and reduce repetitive strain injuries. The product equipment has broad application prospects in assembly lines, warehousing and logistics sorting, construction and other fields. It is particularly important for reducing operator fatigue and maintaining long-term and efficient work.

As the trend of population aging gradually becomes apparent, the care and rehabilitation issues of the elderly have once again been put on the stage and have become an issue that cannot be ignored and needs to be solved urgently. In response to the price issue that the elderly are concerned about, Aosha Intelligent said it will further reduce costs and develop lighter and more cost-effective products to meet users' needs for basic rehabilitation training and to make up for lack of strength at home.

Today, Aosha Intelligent has already launched its products in the fields of automobile manufacturing, logistics and transportation, airport sorting, and home rehabilitation training.

04The industry is still in its infancy, and there may be a blue ocean opportunity worth hundreds of billions of yuan in the gap

The exoskeleton robot industry is still in its early stages of development and has certain shortcomings and deficiencies:

In "The Wandering Earth 2", the exoskeleton robot perfectly interprets the image of "black technology", but there is still a gap from this imagination. Core technologies such as drive systems and control algorithms still need breakthroughs and innovations. Enterprises need to continue to invest in research and development to improve product performance and strive to make science fiction a reality; the relevant industrial chain and supporting systems also need to be further improved to ensure a stable supply of core components; applications are currently still mainly in medical rehabilitation and a few industries, and the market integration is relatively high, which is not conducive to rapid growth of the industry.

From this point of view, the exploration of exoskeleton robots from product research and development to commercial application is still on the way, and there is still a long way to go, which requires sufficient time to settle and scenario verification.

The downstream market for exoskeleton robots is vast, and there is a huge demand for robots in the fields of industry, medical care, and household consumption. The innovation and iteration of new materials, sensors and other related technologies also provide a solid foundation for further optimizing the cost of exoskeleton robots. With the strong support of national policies such as the "Robot+" Application Action Implementation Plan, exoskeleton robots will surely play a greater potential in more application scenarios.

Beyond the challenges are broad market prospects and development opportunities.

It can be foreseen that exoskeleton robots will continue to be optimized in terms of performance and cost, and their application areas will continue to expand and deepen. What the future market structure of exoskeleton robots will look like depends on which company can seize the opportunities of the times, devote itself to research and development, and go all out to compete in the market.