Domestic industrial robots usher in major opportunities

my country's market size has grown rapidly in recent years, and relevant policies to encourage industrial development have been introduced one after another. In order to better support my country's development, industry companies are gradually achieving technological breakthroughs and improving the localization level of industrial robots.

In an interview with reporters, You Wei, chairman and general manager of Efort Intelligent Equipment, said that the current economic environment has put forward higher requirements for improving quality, reducing costs and increasing efficiency for various manufacturing companies. This is a huge opportunity for robots, especially domestic industrial robots.

Huge market

Efort Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. is a company focusing on the industrial robot industry. According to data, in the first three quarters of this year, the company produced 10,240 industrial robots, a year-on-year increase of 122%, and sold 9,567 units, a year-on-year increase of 118%.

You Wei said: "We have completed the annual target of producing and selling 10,000 units ahead of schedule in October this year, and will continue to expand the market in the fourth quarter."

He believes that currently, both the existing market and the incremental market for domestic industrial robots hold great opportunities.

In terms of the existing market, You Wei said that EFORT will increase its investment in mainstream application industries and will focus on entering the fields of complete vehicles and auto parts next year.

"The market share of domestic robots in this field is very low, and there is a lot of room for growth. We call this part of the mainstream industry the stock market, and this stock market is very large. Domestic robots have a great chance to gain their own share in the stock market." You Wei said.

In terms of the incremental market, You Wei believes that the continuous improvement of the level of robotization will enable manufacturing industries that could not use robots before to quickly use robots. "In some traditional manufacturing industries, especially in scenarios of multi-variety and small-batch operations, traditional robots cannot effectively adapt, and their robot penetration rate is very low. If robots become smarter, they can solve these pain points." You Wei said, "This part of the incremental market will be larger."

▍High investment in R&D

You Wei believes that R&D and innovation are essential elements for the sustainable development of enterprises, especially for sustainable high-quality development. Whether enterprises can meet customer needs in the future competition depends on strength and technical background. Therefore, R&D and innovation are what this industry must do, and a certain intensity must be guaranteed.

You Wei said that Efort's R&D investment intensity is relatively high, especially in the robotics business segment, where R&D investment accounts for more than a double-digit percentage of the annual robotics business revenue.

"There are two reasons for ensuring this investment intensity: first, China's industrial robots are 30 to 40 years behind those of foreign countries. If we cannot ensure sufficient R&D intensity, it will be difficult to catch up quickly. Second, the customer groups of China's manufacturing industry have differentiated characteristics. If we do not make targeted R&D investments close to the market, it will be difficult to grasp customer pain points and form differentiated competitive advantages." You Wei said.

You Wei said that whether it is running side by side or leading, it is necessary to maintain a high level of R&D investment. Of course, in the short term, the price of foreign robots will create pressure on prices, resulting in a mismatch between investment and output in the short term, but this is the path that must be taken. At the same time, the capital market will play a very important role in promoting the R&D and innovation process of enterprises.

▍Standardization is urgently needed

You Wei believes that due to national support and market promotion in recent years, domestic industrial robots have developed rapidly, the market share of domestic industrial robots is constantly increasing, and domestic robots are also moving from the original marginal market to mainstream application scenarios, such as photovoltaics, lithium batteries, manufacturing, etc.

"Of course, at present, domestic robots still have gaps compared with foreign robots in some core performance and functional integrity. These gaps need to be continuously polished and incubated in some application scenarios. Domestic robots will continue to explore higher-end scenarios, such as aviation manufacturing, rail manufacturing, and automobile manufacturing, to further polish product functions and improve product performance." You Wei said.

Facing the rise of ChatGPT, You Wei believes that if general artificial intelligence is to be implemented in the manufacturing industry in the future, there must be an execution terminal. Industrial robots must be a very important tool and carrier for the implementation of general artificial intelligence technology in the manufacturing industry, so the combination of the two is very natural.

However, You Wei also said that at present, large models have encountered some bottlenecks in driving or completing the scheduling and deployment of existing industrial robots.

"The underlying applications of current industrial robots are not unified, and even the programming languages ​​of robots are not unified, which poses a great practical obstacle to the grafting of general artificial intelligence technology onto robots. Therefore, the standards and architecture of the underlying software of industrial robots, the robot programming language, and the unification and standardization of application program interfaces may be the key issues that the industry needs to focus on in the future. EFORT has already started the corresponding work and is actively deploying partners and friendly companies related to the industrial chain to establish the corresponding standards as soon as possible." You Wei said

Editor: Huang Fei