Home appliance faucets are showing unprecedented importance for the robotics industry.

Prior to AWE, Midea launched the 'New Generation of Man-Machine' strategy, followed by Midea's Andre to bring a full range of robotics and automation solutions. The first show of intelligent supply chain solutions was AWE. In addition, Haier also officially released “The Haier Smart Home – Service Robot Strategy 1.0 Earlier in the day, at the Gree Cadre Meeting in 2018, Gree Electric Chairman Dong Mingzhu mentioned that intelligent equipment will be the second main business of Gree Electric in the future. The consecutive layout of leading enterprises in the robot industry is puzzling. Jointly.

Depth layout

On the eve of 2018AWE, Midea Group's 'Human Machine New Century' strategy was first publicized, systematically revealing that the United States through human-computer co-prosperity, harmonious cooperation, and achieve fissile development in smart manufacturing, industrial Internet, smart home, etc. 2018AWE site The U.S. Pavilion also demonstrated a comprehensive robotic application scenario: More professional, more friendly commercial robots, service robots capable of telemedicine. Andhra Zhilian exhibited four major robots Air-pick, Air-carry, Optimus Prime and Bumblebee system for the first time. , Representing different intelligent storage applications.

Ande Robot Debut 2018AWE

On March 21st, another important news came that U.S. announced that it will inject capital into its subsidiary business in China and set up three joint ventures to expand the business in the three major areas of industrial robotics, medical care, and warehouse automation to comply with the Chinese market. High-speed development needs in smart manufacturing, smart medical and smart logistics, new retail, etc.

Zhuhai Gree Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. official website Product display

Not only the United States and the long-sleeved dance, Gree in the robotics industry plate is also alive. For Gree's development plan on smart equipment, Gree Electric chairman Dong Mingzhu at the Gree Executive Meeting in 2018, said that in the past Gree smart equipment to achieve its own production In the next five years, Gree will be making efforts in smart devices. At the same time, she will be the first time in the future of Gree Electric Appliances to position the strategic significance of smart devices.

At the second session of the 13th National People's Congress meeting, Dong Mingzhu claimed that Gree Electric Appliances had 8 bases nationwide and basically achieved the state of production of unmanned factories. Gree's smart equipment products are currently not only Appliance industry services can also serve the food industry and other industrial industries.

The public data shows that by the end of 2017, Gree's smart equipment products covered more than 10 fields such as CNC machine tools, industrial robots and servo robots, exceeded 100 specifications, and produced more than 5,500 sets of automation equipment. The cumulative output value was about 3 billion yuan.

Pepper can not only be linked with a variety of smart home appliances and smart devices, but its unique active and emotional interactions also bring about the improvement of the smart home human-computer interaction experience.

Also on the eve of AWE, Haier announced a strategic cooperation with Softbank Robots to introduce SoftBank’s humanoid robot 'Pepper' into the Chinese market. On the same day, Haier also officially released “Haier Smart Home - Service Robot Strategy 1.0”, which proposes a single function for service robots. , Single scene to full scene upgrade, formally marching into the field of service robots.

It is understood that the robots Pepper and NAO developed by Softbank have been used in more than 70 countries around the world to provide innovative services related to retail, finance, healthcare, travel and service industries.

Que Tong Tong

The significance of the strategic layout surrounding the robotics industry, the industrial Internet sector, Midea, Gree, Haier and other home appliance leading enterprises far exceeds the improvement in manufacturing efficiency and the industrial layout.

The importance of positioning the smart equipment sector in the 'second industry' is evident in the importance of smart equipment in Gree's transformation. Dong Mingzhu mentioned in the second channel of the 13th National People's Congress meeting that in the past, Gree was Professional air-conditioning companies. With the transformation and upgrading and the three transformations proposed after the 18th National Congress, Gree sought a bigger direction. Supporting products and consumer demand requires more advanced equipment to support them.

And to the United States, the human-computer strategy also carries the dream of transforming the United States. At the 2018 China Manufacturing Forum, Fang Hongbo, Chairman of Midea Group, stated: 'This is our vision for the future. We hope to transform it into a consumer appliance, HVAC , Robotics and automation systems, the technology group of the four major businesses of the intelligent supply chain, driven by technology, is no longer a labor-intensive company.

2012-2020 Global Service Robot Sales and Growth Rate (Source: IFR, China Electronics Association)

Secondly, whether it is the head enterprises of the robotics industry, such as Kuka or Yaskawa, or their own smart devices, the leading companies are also aiming at the 100 billion-level robot market and are pursuing the vast needs of the industrial and consumer robot markets. Market research and According to Tractica, a consultancy, the global robot market will grow from US$34.1 billion in 2016 to US$226.2 billion in 2016, driven by consumer robots, corporate robots, autopilots and drones, with a compound annual growth rate of around 46%. .

The 2017 China Robotics Industry Development Report shows that currently in the global manufacturing industry, the density of industrial robots has exceeded 70 sets per ten thousand people. The future industrial robots will be further popularized. Take the example of smart logistics in the United States as the focus, IFR data show: Global Commercial robots shipped a total of 59,706 vehicles in 2016, an increase of 24% year-on-year, with sales of US$4.7 billion. The largest part is logistics robots. In December last year, Gree's independent research and development vehicle urea smart machine was awarded the “Leading International ', Gree's technological R & D strength in the field of smart equipment can be seen here.

US medical service robot debut 2018AWE

Relying on artificial intelligence technology, the application scenarios and service models of intelligent public service robots continue to expand, which will drive the rapid growth of the market scale of service robots represented by medical service robots. Midea has long been looking for opportunities in this regard. Last year, in March, Yasukawa's services The manufacturing base of the robot with a production capacity of 200 million yuan was completed, and the research and testing laboratories and product life reliability testing laboratories were put into use. The three joint ventures jointly established by U.S. and KUKA, which were just announced recently, were aimed at Medical field business.

Haier is a unique lover for service robots. Wang Wei, Vice President of Haier Home Appliances Industry Group and leading R&D General Manager, said in an interview with the media: 'Service robots are natural extensions and effective supplements to Haier's smart family strategy. Haier will continue for a long time. We will improve the layout of the service robot industry around smart homes and promote the accelerated development of the service robot industry. 'This is also the third major meaning of the robotics industry for home appliance companies - whether it is Haier, or the United States, Gree, including service robots. The robot industry, which is compatible with its smart home strategy, can complement and extend its smart home ecosystem.

It is undeniable that the so-called robotic industry has a lot of exaggeration, impatience, self-inflicted and other signs. However, the epee has no front, and it does not work. As Dong Mingzhu said, 'user demand-oriented, user demand as the standard, This is the direction of Gree's smart equipment development. 'The investment and layout of leading home appliance companies represented by the United States and Gree in the robotics industry, industrial internet, etc. are obviously more pragmatic and return value.