According to the "China Robot Industry Development Report (2018)", my country's industrial robot market is developing rapidly, accounting for about one-third of the global market share, and is the world's largest industrial robot application market. According to statistics, my country's industrial robot sales reached 138,000 units in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 30%. Sales are expected to exceed 150,000 units in 2018, and the market size will reach US$6.23 billion. By 2020, the domestic market size will further expand to US$9.35 billion.
In addition, the market size of my country's service robots has expanded rapidly and has become a bright spot in the robot market application. In 2018, my country's service robot market is expected to reach US$1.84 billion, a year-on-year increase of approximately 43.9%, which is higher than the growth rate of the global service robot market. By 2020, with the rapid development of robots in emerging application scenarios such as parking robots and supermarket robots, the size of my country's service robot market is expected to exceed US$4 billion.
After nearly 40 years of development, my country's robotics technology has achieved breakthroughs and leaps in basic research, product development, and manufacturing levels, but the gap with developed countries still exists. As long as we make unremitting efforts and catch up, Chinese robots will surely bloom the charm of Made in China on the world robot stage.
Shortcomings of my country’s robot industry
As my country’s robot market matures, my country’s key technological breakthroughs and diversified applications have made positive progress. However, it is undeniable that the disadvantages of domestic robots The market competitiveness is still not strong. To make up for the shortcomings of my country's robot industry and climb up the value chain, core technology is still the key.
Nowadays, surrounding the innovative application of emerging technologies such as big data, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence, the robot industry, the "jewel in the crown of the manufacturing industry," is at the forefront of technological breakthroughs and industrial changes, and is becoming New driving forces under the new normal of China’s economy. According to the "2018 China Robot Industry Development Report", my country's robot market has entered a period of rapid growth. In 2018, the size of my country's robot market is expected to reach US$8.74 billion, with an average growth rate of 29.7 from 2013 to 2018. However, given the huge market volume, 70% of my country's industrial robot market is made up of foreign brands, which shows that "the contradiction between the performance of my country's own brand products and the high-end application demands in key industry fields still exists", and the lack of domestic robots in high-end applications. Bit.
Breakthrough in core technology is the key point
Although my country's independent brand robots are less competitive in high-end applications, as the industries where domestic industrial robots are applied continue to expand, the scope of applications is getting wider and wider. It is becoming more and more popular and the penetration rate is getting higher and higher. my country has made positive progress in some key technological breakthroughs and diversified applications. At present, our country has taken breakthroughs in key core technologies of robots as an important strategy for scientific and technological development. In terms of industrial robots, domestic manufacturers have overcome some of the problems in key core components such as reducers, servo controls, servo motors, etc., and the trend of localization of core components is gradually appear. Applications have rapidly expanded to sub-industries such as plastics, rubber, and food. Following automobiles and electronics, hardware, sanitary ware, furniture, and home appliances have also become the main application areas of domestic industrial robots. In terms of service robots, intelligent related technologies are basically on par with the international leading level. At the same time, my country's technological innovation in the field of artificial intelligence continues to accelerate. The number of patent applications in China is of the same order of magnitude as that in the United States. In particular, the number of application-layer patents such as computer vision and intelligent voice has grown rapidly, spawning a number of innovative and entrepreneurial companies. In terms of special robots, policy guidance has driven the continuous advancement of special robot technology, and new progress has been made in the development of special drones, underwater robots and other products. At present, in the field of special robots, my country has initially formed a series of products such as special drones, underwater robots, search and rescue/ordnance disposal robots, etc., and has formed advantages in some fields.
An industrial robot is a general-purpose machine equipped with a memory device and an end-execution device that can complete various movements or processes to replace human labor. Usually in production, it can replace workers in certain monotonous, frequent and repetitive long-term operations, or operations in dangerous or harsh environments.
It can improve production efficiency and product quality, and is an effective solution for enterprises to supplement and replace labor.
The current development characteristics of industrial robots are high speed, precision, compact body structure, multiple degrees of freedom and improved rigidity. Key areas also require heavy loads or fast response speed. For example, the load of welding robots in automobile production is mostly between 150-300Kg, while assembly robots in the electronics field need to respond quickly to accessories on the assembly line.
In the field of mechanical transmission, the reducer is an intermediate device connecting the power source and the actuator. It usually transmits the high-speed running power of electric motors, internal combustion engines, etc. through the small gear on the input shaft to mesh with the large gear on the output shaft. Gears are used to reduce speed and transmit greater torque. Currently mature and standardized reducers include: cylindrical gear reducer, worm gear reducer, planetary reducer, planetary gear reducer, RV reducer, cycloidal pinwheel reducer and harmonic reducer. Since the 1980s and 1990s, with the development needs of emerging industries such as aerospace, robotics and medical equipment, there has been a need for high-performance precision reducers with simple and compact structures, high transmission power, low noise and smooth transmission. Among them, RV reducers are harmonious. Wave reducers are two important types of reducers among precision reducers.
Application fields of precision reducers
Position distribution of precision reducers in six-axis industrial robots
RV (Rot-Vector) reducer
RV reducer is developed on the basis of cycloidal pinwheel transmission and has two-stage reduction and central disc support structure. Since it was put on the market in 1986, it has been the "royal" reducer for robots because of its advantages such as large transmission ratio, high transmission efficiency, high motion accuracy, small hysteresis, low vibration, high rigidity and high reliability.
Nabotesco (Teijin) RV series reducer structure diagram
Nabotesco (Teijin) RV series reducer
Harmonic reducer
The harmonic reducer consists of three parts: harmonic generator, flexibility theory and rigid wheel. Its working principle is that the harmonic generator causes the flexible wheel to produce controllable elastic deformation, and the power is transmitted by the meshing of the flexible wheel and the rigid wheel. And achieve the purpose of deceleration; according to the different wave generators, there are cam type, roller type and eccentric disc type. The harmonic reducer has a large transmission ratio, small outline, few parts and high transmission efficiency. The transmission ratio of a single machine can reach 50-4000, and the transmission efficiency is as high as 92-96. Web link