Finding certainty and stability in an uncertain environment is the significance of new technologies. The rapid development of smart logistics relies on the continuous empowerment and strong driving of new technologies. On September 17, the new Yunqi Conference was held. Integrating cutting-edge artificial intelligence and autonomous driving technology, Ali Zoo's new character - "Little Man Donkey" has become the most beautiful cub in the spotlight.
A new species that emerged following the trend? The little man donkey has a big background
Demand changes lead to technological innovation, and the same is true for the "story" of the little man donkey.
Currently, the demand for logistics and distribution is exploding rapidly. It is expected that in the near future, my country alone will generate 1 billion distribution orders every day. Terminal logistics will inevitably become the most costly and least efficient important link in the entire logistics system, and will inevitably require more reasonable, more efficient, and more advanced solutions.
The solution provided by Alibaba is a more intelligent "logistics robot", which is an intelligent transportation equipment that is oriented to end-logistics scenarios and provides last-mile delivery services. The International Federation of Robotics has previously predicted that the upcoming robot revolution will create a market worth trillions of dollars, and logistics robots clearly have great potential.
Especially in my country, the robot market is roughly divided into three categories: industrial robots, service robots and special robots. Among them, the service robot market has accounted for more than a quarter of the global market, and the market size is expected to exceed US$4 billion in 2020. . From 2014 to 2019, the average growth rate of my country's robot market reached 20.9, with service robots growing at a higher rate. Logistics robots are the "important place" for service robots.
But why logistics robots? This starts with the complexity and particularity of terminal logistics scenarios.
In the terminal scenario, the road is unstructured, and even if it is only traveling at low speed, the robot still faces huge difficulties. For example: on community roads, robots need to avoid crowds, vehicles, cats, dogs and various obstacles in a timely, accurate and safe manner, which means that they must be proficient in basic operations such as turning, emergency stopping, meeting cars, and reversing. Once it encounters a situation where the environment exceeds a certain complexity, the robot must make a judgment that all forward paths are unsafe and "freeze" in place to avoid collisions.
The more difficult "choice" situation is that the robot needs to be "adaptive". For example: on a road where only one vehicle can pass, when faced with a meeting situation, the robot must "guess" the driver's thoughts. Any operation it chooses to slow down, pull over, or give priority will affect the robot's next behavior. . Even if the driver suddenly accelerates or stops while driving, the robot must have the ability to adjust its judgment accordingly.
As you can imagine, if you were a robot, you would have exclaimed "It's too difficult for me!" But robots, especially logistics robots, have to face such repetitive but extremely challenging situations every moment. end scene. This time Alibaba enters the robot war, relying on the core algorithm capabilities and software and hardware integration design capabilities of Alibaba DAMO Academy, which helps logistics robots achieve human-like intelligence.
According to reports, the exploration of multi-modal artificial intelligence technology and autonomous driving technology by Alibaba DAMO Academy and the entire Alibaba economy in recent years has provided a profound technical foundation for the research and development of robots. At present, it has registered and established Xiaomanlu Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. to promote robot research and development and mass production. Xiaomanlu is the first logistics robot it has released, and will be the first to be put into large-scale use in Cainiao Station.
Of course, in addition to launching the Xiaoman Donkey wheel robot, Alibaba Damo Academy also launched an intelligent robot platform. The platform will develop different types of robot products such as bipeds and crawlers, which can be used in fire and disaster relief, epidemic prevention and disinfection, airport services, scenic spot tours, security patrols and other scenarios. The platform opens general robot technology and capability modules to the outside world, and users can quickly develop various types of robots in different scenarios on the platform.
A little man with all the skills? A bright future
Society has needs, scenarios have needs, and technology has accumulated. It is not surprising that Ali has entered the robot track. But naming its first logistics robot Xiaoman Donkey is somewhat unexpected.
As we all know, donkeys were once the most commonly used tools for people in China for work, transportation, going to markets, and carrying goods. Logistics robots can be as cute, reliable, and humane as donkeys, and they also have the "brute strength" to accomplish their missions. , is what Ali expected.
Therefore, as production and life become increasingly cloud-based and digitalized, the "Little Man Donkey" who specializes in terminal logistics services was born as a market tool in the digital native era. In Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai dialects, "man" is often used as an adverb of degree. This little barbarian donkey born in Zhejiang will definitely be very smart, very capable, and very safe.
As for the appearance of the little donkey, the cuteness behind the sense of technology is impressive. Its size is 2100*900*1200mm (1445mm tall including lidar). The exterior of the car adopts champagne black and gold tones with rounded lines. The compartment grilles can be freely customized. Based on the calculation that each vehicle can be loaded with up to 50 pieces of regular-sized express delivery/parcels/takeaways and 10 deliveries per day, the peak capacity can reach 500 orders/day.
In the field of terminal logistics that pursues efficiency and energy saving, the speed of Xiaoman Donkey is more concerned with safety needs, and is set to an average of 15km/h; it uses a pull-out rechargeable battery, and each time It charges at 4 degrees and has a range of 102 kilometers. The power consumed by driving 100 kilometers is less than the power used to eat hot pot for two hours; the power is 615w, which is also less than half of the Dyson hair dryer (1600w) and three-thirds of the conventional household induction cooker. One (about 2000w).
It is no exaggeration to say that at a time when the competition in the logistics robot market is becoming increasingly fierce, Xiaoman Donkey stands out and has real skills. Here, it is important to note that it has industry-leading competitiveness in terms of intelligence, safety, and mass production.
As mentioned earlier, the robot must be intelligent enough and have human-like cognitive decision-making capabilities: the little donkey can drive freely in complex terminal scenarios, avoid obstacles reliably, and handle turns and emergency situations smoothly. In situations such as parking, meeting, and reversing, the autonomous driving rate is as high as 99.9999; it only takes 0.01 seconds to identify the intentions of hundreds of pedestrians and vehicles; when encountering danger and requiring an emergency stop, it only takes 0.1 seconds for the brain to complete decision-making and planning. and issue control instructions.
Little Man Donkey is very safe. The system architecture introduces a five-layer redundant design, including brain decision-making, redundant cerebellum, abnormality detection brake, contact protection brake, and remote protection. For example: the safety cerebellum system focuses on passive safety; the remote driving system is responsible for human intervention to control the robot under specific circumstances (encountering conditions beyond the boundaries of the robot's cognitive capabilities).
In addition, through self-research and in-depth customization of algorithms, Xiaomanlu already has large-scale mass production capabilities. This is due to the effective reduction of manufacturing costs, which is specifically reflected in: independent design of appearance and possession of design patents; in-depth customization of core main sensors such as chassis and lidar; self-developed embedded computing platform, customizing high-performance and low-cost through a combination of software and hardware. Cost and low power computing unit.
In short, Xiaomanlu combines various core technology modules of Alibaba DAMO Academy such as autonomous driving, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and cloud computing. The technologies it relies on, such as computer vision, 5G, terminal speed, autonomous driving, and machine learning, are closer to large-scale mature applications.
Industry insiders believe that the development of automated mobile robots has passed the bubble period; automated mobile robots represented by Xiaoman Donkey are expected to revolutionize existing tools and solutions in related fields within 5-10 years. Massive replacement.
Conclusion:
Nowadays, the value of intelligent logistics to the logistics industry and even the entire economic and social operation is gradually increasing, and the market size is also continuing to expand. my country is regarded as the largest "battlefield" for logistics robots in the future. Alibaba is not the first to enter the market, and latecomers will surely follow.
As Alibaba’s pioneer in the field of robotics, Xiaomanlu is undoubtedly determined to win. However, in the era of the emergence of man-machine, although society's demand for robots is facing a huge explosion, in order to win the crown jewel of the manufacturing industry, Alibaba must continue to lay out and increase its investment.
(Logistics Commercial Vehicle Network? Reporter? Xiao Rong)
This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.