New trends in the hottest robot industry 0

There is a new trend in the robot industry

first tier funds have entered the robot industry, making this field continue to be hot. For Chinese robot entrepreneurs, they are following the policy of timing and market location, and using the "rent for sale" model to innovate and open up a future with great imagination

in 2020, the robot track is still hot

unlike previous years, which are more suitable for making corrosion-resistant parts, first-line dollar funds and large technology giant CVC (venture capital/strategic investors) have set their sights on this field. For example, VC Hillhouse venture capital, established by Hillhouse this year, has invested in cleaning robot Yunjing intelligence, intelligent robot company Siling robot and wearable robot developer yrobot

among them, Sequoia Capital also appeared in the same round of financing of Yunjing intelligent and Siling robot; In addition, Sequoia also invested in makamand, syrius Juxing, a warehousing and logistics robot company, and Purdue technology, a food delivery robot company. Sequoia China seed fund invested in Yushu technology, a quadruped robot company

source capital is also unwilling to lag behind. The layout of robot track intensively disclosed this year includes mecamand, robot hand eye coordination technology company xingyingzhe, box storage robot company Hairou innovation, distribution robot company Qinglang technology, entertainment and education robot company Keji technology

behind the attention of capital is the quiet evolution of the robot industry. What is worth paying attention to and discussing

mobile and intelligent robots have attracted more attention

in the past, robots were mainly used in automobile manufacturing, but now robots are moving from automobile manufacturing to other manufacturing fields, and began to blossom in logistics fields outside manufacturing - such as warehousing and terminal distribution, business services - such as delivering meals, cleaning, making coffee, preparing meals, household areas - such as floor sweeping robots

when it comes to specific advertising sponsors, if they "know or should know" that the advertisement is false, they are still recommending and certifying goods and services in the advertisement, and the types of products and companies are receiving more attention:

first, mobile robots with mobile capabilities - mobile technology has certain versatility, and is used in manufacturing, logistics, commercial and household fields; At present, these scenes are scattered, giving birth to AMR (autonomous mobile robot), unmanned forklift, AGV (automatic guided transport vehicle), unmanned logistics car, sweeping robot and other categories, but in the future, it may be vertical and horizontal, with imagination

second, companies with new technologies that are committed to intelligent robots use AI, vision and other technologies to add "senses" to robots from multiple perspectives - eyes, dexterous hands, touch, brain and so on, trying to create smarter, flexible robots that can adapt to a variety of new tasks

Cao Yi, the founding partner of source capital, who has a layout in both types of enterprises, believes that it is a deterministic thing for robots to replace people in various industries, and this process will accelerate. On the one hand, the cost and quality of supply will change with the increase of scale. On the other hand, the demand side has an increasing desire for labor with low cost, stability, scale, accuracy and other characteristics. Under this premise, in the category of hundreds of thousands or millions of users, companies with good business attributes and strong entrepreneurial teams will be of great value. Of course, this process will not be fast. It requires patience, physical and mental strength, and excellent entrepreneurs

pioneers explore a new model of "rent for sale"

an interesting phenomenon is that at present, it is not "old guns in the industry" but relatively young teams that are supported by head first-line funds and CVC. These young pioneers have begun to explore new business models

for example, jizhijia, founded in Beijing in 2015, took the lead in proposing the business model of "robot-as-a-service (RAAS)" which includes robot leasing, full warehouse agent operation and intelligent warehouse service with integrated warehouse distribution. Before the project initiated a new political period, robot leasing has become one of the business sectors with the largest growth rate in RAAS services, and has broad application scenarios in e-commerce, clothing, beauty, mother and baby industries

according to statistics, most jizhijia RAAS customers will temporarily expand their smart warehouses by renting robots during the double 11 to successfully cope with the business peak of double 11

Yang Junzhe, vice president of jizhijia intelligent warehousing, said: "In addition to reducing the initial investment, the leasing mode can also allow enterprises to flexibly expand the number of robots according to demand, deploy on demand, and have a higher degree of flexibility. This also allows enterprises to calmly cope with business fluctuations. During the" double 11 "and" 6 · 18 "promotion periods, through flexible expansion of robot warehouses and increase the deployment of logistics robots, so as to ensure the operation efficiency of warehouses and deal with peak orders. It can also be transferred between multiple warehouses according to business volume Robots are used, which are not available in the traditional picking mode. "

the "flexible" advantage of such a leasing mode enables more enterprises to come into contact with logistics robots, and gradually understand their advantages. Their attitude towards logistics robots has changed from "optional" to "you have to"

in the field of service robots, take Qinglang intelligent, which completed financing not long ago, as an example. In 2019, the shipment of Qinglang intelligent exceeded 3000, of which the rental proportion gradually increased, while the rent of a catering robot is 3000 yuan per month, and the rental contract is 1-2 years

Li Tong, founder and CEO of Qinglang intelligent, said, "the industry will eventually move towards leasing, and sales is only a short-term and temporary behavior. The reason is that in terms of the demand of C-end customers for automation equipment, in addition to the product itself, what they need is reliable technical service support and efficient operation management. At present, the renewal of rental products is good, and I believe that the renewal rate will continue to improve in the future."

from making products to making overall solutions for the industry

while many start-ups explored "renting for sale", stander robot, founded in Shenzhen, chose another mode, that is, from making products to making overall solutions for the industry

since 2014, stander robot has specialized in the core technology of mobile robots, focusing on two products, OA sis300 and oasis600. Stead robot took the lead in applying products and solutions to the factory logistics scenario according to the flexible needs of the automotive and 3C industries. Stander robot believes that if one product is done well and thoroughly, other products will work. In order to meet the needs of material handling and docking in the factory, different structures can be built on the stand oasis products, such as rollers, mechanical arms, lifting devices, etc. what stand robot does is a mobile robot plus professional customized modules to meet the non-standard needs of customers in multiple scenes

based on the completely independent research and development of the core scheduling system and operating system, stander robot has achieved technological innovation and promoted business growth. Since the beginning of its establishment, what stander robot has done is industrial products. The product requirements are more stringent, and it needs to reach the industrial level. From the bottom algorithm of the operating system, it has reached the technical level of industrial level verification through the landing application of many scenes and nearly 100 projects. Therefore, it can provide customers with stable and reliable products and solutions, and constantly improve the accuracy and efficiency

facing the complex needs of industry customers, stander robot provides customers with a complete set of flexible logistics solutions from four aspects: standard chassis, standard interfaces, tools and services. Through logistics solutions, stander links the factory production warehouse, production line and finished product warehouse. Based on the fact that the tension testing machine fixture for AGV products is quite important and mature, stander robot will launch forklift products in the future to meet more needs of customers

the future scenery is unique.

judging from the current market situation, Chinese robot companies still have some special opportunities

Wu Jian, partner of source capital, believes that China's robot field is enjoying the opportunity of favorable timing, location and people

"time", that is, the state's support and policy dividends. The uncertainty of the international environment and external pressure will bring some inhibition in the short term, but it is also a development stimulus to some extent

"geographical advantage", China is the largest center of the global manufacturing industry, with a large scale and rich production, manufacturing and consumption scenarios. This is not only the soil of automation, but also the opportunity for robot companies - if the technology is verified and standardized in a large-scale place, it will have the opportunity to be promoted to the world

the second is talent advantage. This is first reflected in the total number of talents related to information technology and Information Engineering: according to the data released by the Ministry of industry and information technology, in 2019, the number of employees in China's software and information technology service industry reached 6.73 million, an increase of 4.7% year-on-year. Ni Guangnan, academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering, said at this year's world intelligence conference that China's R & D investment and patents rank second in the world, and the team of engineers will continue to grow, "engineer bonus" will replace the "demographic dividend"

finally, the scientific innovation board, which has been running for more than a year, has brought positive capital benefits to the robot industry

up to now, there are 201 companies issuing the sci-tech innovation board, including 9 industrial robots and related enterprises, including Hanchuan intelligence, Bozhong Seiko, Tianzhun technology, etc., which are involved in the integration of automation systems, as well as inhand technology, which is involved in the edge computing of industrial robots, Lexin Technology, which is an enterprise integrating IOT chips, Anhan technology, which is a manufacturer of medical robots, and intelligent transportation and service robot No. 9 intelligence, In the field of consumer robots, stone technology, a sweeping robot company, has a market value of more than 50billion yuan

for Chinese robot entrepreneurs, they are stepping on the right place at the right time and facing a future with great imagination. It is still unknown who will be the first to cross the dawn. In the face of this systematic opportunity, what everyone can do is to try their best to run forward and enter the future of the whole industry