Humanoid robots are hot, the next trillion-dollar blue ocean for motor systems

Enthusiasts.com reported (by Wu Zipeng) that at the Inclusion Bund Conference held not long ago, humanoid became the focus, and many new robots from many companies were unveiled. For example, Unitree H1, the world's first full-size electric-driven humanoid robot with the ability to do a backflip on the spot, and Go2, a four-legged robot from Yushu Technology, both participated in the Inclusion Bund Conference; the cooking robot jointly developed by Tianluo Cloud Kitchen and Alipay Treasure Box also participated in the Inclusion Bund Conference. The staff said that it can automatically identify ingredients and provide users with choices based on the ingredient menu. As long as you follow the prompts, you can get a dish.

At present, the global humanoid robot industry has exploded. Although it will take some time for large-scale commercialization to land, it has already arrived at the "eve of the blowout." In the humanoid robot system, the system is one of the core components, and it is about to usher in a new industrial blue ocean.

Trillion-dollar humanoid robot market

At present, the development of humanoid robots can be said to be a combination of time, place and people. In terms of policies, both the national and local governments have introduced a lot of guidance and support policies for the humanoid robot industry. For example, in October last year, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Innovation and Development of Humanoid Robots". This document pointed out that it is necessary to accelerate the innovation and development of China's humanoid robot industry to provide support for building a strong manufacturing country, a strong country and a digital China.

In addition to the guiding policies at the national level, local governments also attach great importance to the development of the humanoid robot industry. At present, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen are the most active. Sharing a policy from Beijing, the "Beijing Robot Industry Innovation and Development Action Plan (2023-2025)" requires that by 2025, the innovation capacity of Beijing's robot industry will be greatly improved, 100 high-tech and high-value-added robots and 100 application scenarios with national promotion value will be cultivated, and the number of robots per 10,000 people will reach the world's leading level, forming a development ecology with the gathering of innovative elements and active innovation and entrepreneurship. The city's core robot industry revenue will reach more than 30 billion yuan, creating a domestic leading and internationally advanced robot industry cluster. In addition, Beijing also established the first provincial humanoid robot innovation in China, the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, in Beijing Yizhuang in November 2023.

Why does the policy attach so much importance to humanoid robots? The main reason is that humanoid robots have great development potential. At present, the relatively clear scenarios include production, accompanying, housework, logistics, military and aerospace. In the field of industrial production, the humanoid robot Figure 02 released by Figure AI is the most popular. This robot has entered the automobile factory for testing. German automaker BMW previously announced that it will use Figure AI's humanoid robot for the first time in its Spartanburg factory in the United States. Figure 02 successfully inserted sheet metal parts into the body structure in a real production environment during the test operation that lasted for several weeks. According to the BMW Group, the relevant production steps require special tactile abilities. Figure 02 can skillfully and independently place various complex parts with millimeter-level accuracy.

Compared with Figure 01, Figure 02 has a 3-fold increase in computing power and reasoning ability, and its hands have 16 degrees of freedom and can carry objects weighing up to 25 kilograms. Each finger is driven by an integrated unit. At the same time, a large amount of wiring is wrapped around the hands and fingers, which provides them with a range of motion similar to that of human wrists.

In the field of logistics and transportation, there are currently many humanoid robots available, including Agility Robocs, 1x, Figure AI, Apptronik and many other companies have launched related solutions. Agility Robotics, a robotics company incubated by the College of Engineering at Oregon State University, and Zion Solutions Group, a supply chain solution provider, announced a strategic partnership to jointly promote the practicality and system integration of humanoid robots in industrial environments. The Digit bipedal mobile manipulation robot (MMR) developed by Agility Robotics is designed to solve the problems faced by warehouse automation. It uses an artificial intelligence model that can quickly and continuously adapt to new tasks and workflows. At the same time, this robot can efficiently handle those monotonous bulk material handling tasks, while also effectively connecting manual operations and automated processes.

Statistics show that the scale of China's humanoid robot industry will exceed 20 billion yuan in 2026, and the humanoid robot market size is expected to exceed 1.1 trillion yuan by 2035, becoming a trillion-scale market.

Types of humanoid robots

As an important representative of modern science and technology, humanoid robots have the ability of human limb movement and action, and motors are indispensable to realize these abilities. Therefore, the motor system is considered to be one of the core tracks for the development of humanoid robots.

From the perspective of motor usage, a single humanoid robot currently uses more than 40 motors, and many types of motors are involved. For example, it is the main motor used in systems such as linear joints and eyeball control. In linear joints, stepper motors can respond to instructions quickly, allowing robots to accurately complete various actions. At the same time, stepper motors also have high efficiency and stability, ensuring the smoothness and accuracy of humanoid robot movement. In addition, stepper motors have good adaptability in the eyes of humanoid robots, so installing stepper motors in the eyes of humanoid robots is an ideal choice.

The hollow cup motor is the main motor used in rotary joints. As a type of DC permanent magnet, its biggest feature is that the rotor structure breaks through the rotor structure of traditional motors. It uses a coreless rotor, which reduces the power loss caused by eddy currents formed by the core. At the same time, its mass and moment of inertia are greatly reduced, thereby reducing the energy loss of the rotor itself. In general, coreless motors have the advantages of high power density, long service life, fast response speed, high peak torque, and good heat dissipation. The humanoid robot Optimus is a typical example of the application of coreless motors.

In addition, humanoid robots also use frameless torque motors in the control link, which can provide stable torque to the load when the motor is at low speed or even stalled. In terms of drive and power, the main motors used include brushed motors, single-phase AC motors, three-phase AC motors, and linear motors.

Conclusion

Compared with traditional robots, humanoid robots have significant advantages in environmental adaptability, task operation diversity and human-machine interaction. Of course, this requires that the motors used in humanoid robots have more precise and efficient control to complete more complex control logic. As humanoid robots gradually release their potential, the motor system is expected to continue to upgrade and innovate, and together leverage the trillion-level humanoid robot application market.