Huawei applies for a patent for a flying robot! Humanoid robots are the most popular, but will it choose another trillion-dollar track?

Recently, the official website of the State Intellectual Property Office disclosed that the patent applied by Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. on September 26, 2022 was published on March 26, 2024. The invention patent is a flying robot , with the publication number CN117755470A, and the inventors are Tao Qiuyang, Wang Bo, Zhao Yao, and Du Peng.

The main claim in the patent is a flying robot with an airbag that can be filled with gas. When the airbag is filled with gas, it can move in three dimensions, with the Z axis pointing vertically upward. There are four thrusters around the robot, which are connected to the airbag and located in a plane defined by the X and Y axes. The four thrusters are in pairs, symmetrically arranged about the X and Y axes. At the same time, the thrust generated by each pair of thrusters is not parallel to the axis, nor perpendicular to the axis.

This move led to speculation that Huawei was interested in the drone market. In recent years, the concept of low-altitude economy has continued to gain popularity, and various regions have introduced a series of policies for low-altitude. Shenzhen, where Huawei is located, is an important pilot city for low-altitude economy. Shenzhen recently issued the country's first local regulations on low-altitude economy, and is making comprehensive arrangements for the high-quality development of low-altitude economy.

The low-altitude economic market has reached a trillion-dollar scale

On March 27, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Civil Aviation Administration of China and other departments jointly issued a notice on the issuance of the "Implementation Plan for Innovation and Application of General Aviation Equipment (2024-2030)". The plan focuses on promoting the development of the low-altitude economy and plans the main goals for the two key time nodes of 2027 and 2030.

The goal points out that by 2027, my country's general aviation equipment supply capacity and industry innovation capacity will be significantly improved, the basic support system for modern general aviation will be basically established, and an efficient and integrated industrial ecosystem will be initially formed. New general aviation equipment with unmanned, electrified, and intelligent technical features will be commercially applied in urban air transport, logistics distribution, emergency rescue and other fields.

By 2030, a new model for the development of the general aviation industry characterized by high-end, intelligent and green characteristics will be basically established, supporting and ensuring the safe and efficient operation of the "short-distance transport + electric vertical take-off and landing" passenger network, the "trunk-branch-end" drone delivery network, and the low-altitude production operation network that meets the needs of industrial and agricultural operations. General aviation equipment will be fully integrated into all areas of people's production and life, becoming a powerful driving force for the growth of the low-altitude economy and forming a trillion-level market scale.

The plan also mentioned that the modernization level of the industrial chain needs to be greatly improved by 2027, specifically to create more than 10 leading enterprises in the general aviation industry chain with ecological dominance, cultivate a group of specialized "little giants" and single champion enterprises in the manufacturing industry. At the same time, aviation emergency rescue and logistics distribution will be applied on a large scale, urban air traffic will be commercially operated, and more than 20 typical application demonstrations that can be replicated and promoted will be formed.

Humanoid robots are the most popular, but the monetization capabilities of flying robots are more visible

If we talk about the top trend in the mobile phone industry this year, humanoid robots must be the winner.

Since the beginning of the year, humanoid robot manufacturers have been making a big splash in the capital market, with several billion-yuan financings in just three months. At the same time, the commercialization model seems to have found some ways, with Mercedes-Benz, BMW, NIO and other car companies reaching agreements with humanoid robot manufacturers to deploy and test run them at their production bases.

However, the commercialization of humanoid robots has not officially started. Although humanoid robots have been put into use in many places, there are still questions about the speed and amount of capital recovery brought by future deployment. In contrast, the flying robot track is more optimistic about the ability of flying robots to recover funds as the low-altitude economy continues to advance.

On March 23, the official Weibo account of Fengyi Technology, a subsidiary of SF Express, a leading domestic logistics company, announced the official launch of drone logistics products including same-city instant delivery and cross-city express delivery. The cost of drone delivery is as low as 12 yuan.

It is understood that Fengyi's normalized operations in the Greater Bay Area have exceeded an average daily order volume of 10,000 tickets. According to the 2023 annual review released by Fengyi Technology, as of the end of December 2023, Fengyi has accumulated more than 4 million kilometers of flights across the country, with more than 800,000 national transport flights and a total of nearly 3 million pieces of cargo transported.

The intra-city delivery service launched by Fengyi Technology is aimed at the demand of "2-hour delivery within the same city" through the transportation mode of "instant response + drone transportation + door-to-door delivery"; the cross-city express delivery service is aimed at the demand of "4-hour delivery within the cross-city and cross-sea service range". There are currently 4 cross-city routes, namely Shenzhen-Zhuhai, Haikou-Zhanjiang, Shenzhen-Zhongshan and Shenzhen-Dongguan, and they only cost 40 yuan during the promotion period.

In addition to using drones to transport cargo, air taxis for transporting people are also gaining momentum.

Not long ago, the electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) "Shengshilong" took off from the Shekou Cruise Home Port in Shenzhen, Guangdong, and landed safely at the Jiuzhou Port Terminal in Zhuhai 20 minutes later, successfully completing the world's first public demonstration flight of the cross-sea and cross-city electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft route.

At present, it takes about 2.5 hours to drive from Shenzhen to Zhuhai, and about 2 hours by high-speed rail from Shenzhen North Station to Zhuhai Station, with ticket prices ranging from 117 to 144.5 yuan. It also takes 1 hour to take a boat from Shenzhen Shekou to Zhuhai Jiuzhou, and the fee is 140 yuan. The opening of air taxis can complete the journey from Shenzhen to Zhuhai in 20 minutes, and there is no need to build traditional airports and runways, so the deployment process can be quickly advanced.

According to the vice president of Fengfei Aviation Technology, the manufacturer of the electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, the single-seat ticket price from Shenzhen to Zhuhai will be about 200 to 300 yuan in the future, and manned flights are expected to be launched in 2026. The "Shenzhen-Zhuhai" route will be operated by Shenzhen Eastern General Aviation Co., Ltd., which has signed an order for 100 eVTOLs from the manufacturer.

It can be seen that the commercial operation model of flying robots has been initially formed. The economic benefit risks brought by entering the flying robot market are lower than those of humanoid robots. There will still be large vacancies in the future market, and the prospects are relatively broad.

Last words

The development of emerging technologies requires huge R&D funding support, and leading technology companies taking the lead in different tracks will play a key role in promoting the flourishing of science and technology. Although Huawei has not made more interpretations of this patent application, we expect this to be a signal that it is deploying a new technology track, and we also expect more domestic technology companies to contribute to the development of China's emerging technologies.