Agarhino's "one core for multiple purposes" reshapes service robots

Many children have a dream in their hearts, which is to create their own robots. Building LEGO bricks can be a fun experience for the first time, but giving life to a robot and making it move and run is a difficult technological adventure.

■ Reporter Xue Lei Photography Liu Min

A fully functional robot is a huge project that combines knowledge and technology from multiple disciplines, involving the coordination of many delicate components such as computing units, sensors, actuators, and control software.

In this complex structure, the robot's brain, the main control board, plays a crucial role. It is responsible for receiving and processing information, making decisions and directing the actions of robots, which is the core element of realizing robot intelligence.

Chengdu Agaxi Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Agaxi") is an artificial intelligence company focusing on the field of AIoT (Intelligent Internet of Things). Their original "one-core multi-purpose" main control board cleverly combines Android with multiple operating systems such as Harmony, Linux, and RTOS into an AidLux system, providing a complete set of AI toolchains to help customers migrate models to different edge chips. This innovative design not only effectively reduces the hardware cost, reduces the delay of inter-system communication, but also greatly simplifies the software development process and significantly improves work efficiency.

Recently, a reporter from the Financial Investment News walked into the headquarters of Agaxi, had an in-depth dialogue with Yi Hongyan, the company's co-founder and CFO, and visited the company's robot exhibition hall. In the exhibition hall, through the communication with the person in charge of the robot division, the reporter had an in-depth understanding of the performance and ability of the robot in practical applications. This is not only a close observation of the technological innovation of Agarhino, but also a forward-looking exploration of the development trend of the future robot industry.

Standardization vs. Customization: The New Trend in Robotics

The headquarters of Agarhino is full of science and technology. An interesting thing is that Yi's desk is assembled from a door panel and two sewing machines, which is said to be the desk that the company's founding team discussed when they participated in the geek project in the early days. After the establishment of the company, Yi Hongyan moved this unique desk into the office.

This ingenious integration of the table reflects the innovative integration concept of Agarhino's core product, the "one core and multi-purpose" main control board.

Agaxi's "one core multi-purpose" main control board supports Android/Harmony, Linux, and RTOS operating systems on one chip and one kernel at the same time with a unique integrated operating system. This converged operating system architecture can support human-computer interaction, AI/CV (computer vision), ROS (robot operating system), SLAM (real-time localization and mapping), navigation, MoveIt (robot motion planning framework), EtherCAT motion control and other functions, realizing the integration of originally separated functions.

It is reported that the design of this main control board is to reduce the amount of hardware required in traditional robot design. Traditionally, service robots may require two different boards to handle human-computer interaction and AI-related tasks, but Agaxi's solution combines the two on a single board, reducing hardware costs and system complexity. In addition, this design reduces the cost of communication between different systems, further improving efficiency.

"Although the robotics industry has a bright future, it faces the practical dilemma of high prices and difficulty in large-scale application. The high cost is prohibitive for many businesses, and even more difficult for consumers to afford. Our vision is to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and drive the adoption of robotics. Yi Hongyan said.

Robot Evolution Theory under Large Model Technology

Robots are not a new concept, and now we are mentioning them again because the development of robots has entered the second half, and its connotation and extension have undergone profound changes, and the focus of the industry has shifted from simply "being able to build robots" to "how to create the best and most cost-effective robots." Behind this transformation, the innovation of artificial intelligence large model technology is the key driving force.

The rapid development of large-scale model technology has quietly rewritten the map of the robot industry. With the blessing of large models, the robot's understanding of complex language instructions is further deepened. Robots communicate with humans more smoothly, and robots are more sensitive to and responsive to human needs.

As Yi Hongyan said: the emergence of large models marks that the field of robotics is about to usher in a revolution. As human-machine interaction becomes more simplified, robots are expected to be as ubiquitous as household appliances in our living spaces in the near future. In the next three to five years, the robot market will usher in significant growth, and the reduction of costs will promote the further penetration of robots into all corners of society.

It is worth mentioning that the introduction of large model technology has significantly improved the intelligence level of robots, especially in the field of household robots, which has a particularly far-reaching impact. With the continuous improvement of technology, home robots are gradually transforming into more friendly existences. Their interactions with their families are becoming more natural and the experience is becoming more human.

Yi Hongyan further elaborated: "Combining large models and humanoid robot design, future home robots will show unprecedented versatility. From routine household chores, such as folding clothes and cleaning rooms, to executing complex commands, robots will do it all. What's more, they will be able to communicate more fluently with humans through natural language processing, allowing users to easily direct robots to complete tasks with just a simple conversation. ”

"Imagine a future where humanoid robots are not only housekeepers, but also entertainment providers, playing their favorite movies and accompanying their children's growth. All of this is thanks to the excellent language understanding ability empowered by large model technology, which makes the daily communication between people and robots as natural as talking to friends. Yi Hongyan said.

The pragmatic turn of domestic robots

After the interview with Yi Hongyan, the reporter of the Financial Investment News went to visit the exhibition hall of Agaxi.

The exhibition hall is not large, mainly displaying the integrated software and hardware solutions of Agaxi, and a quarter of the exhibition hall area is used to display a home robot. Different from the anthropomorphic image in science fiction movies, this robot is more like a high-performance four-wheel drive vehicle, with a compact body design and a storage basket at the top, which is both practical and technological. Through the family map drawn on the spot, the robot can freely shuttle through the room, whether it is accompanying the escort, or guiding and inspecting and other tasks, it seems to be at ease.

According to Gao Buchun, head of the Agarhino Robot Division, this robot is a reference design of the home service robot developed and produced by Agaxi, which shows the absolute advantages and innovative value of the robot's "one core and multiple uses" solution for manufacturers.

The service robots built with the "one core and multiple uses" solution not only have significantly improved their cost performance, flexibility, stability and ease of use, but also expand their application scenarios from a single service to more complex combined scenarios. For example, family accompaniment, health care escort, food delivery and delivery, guide cleaning, security inspection, etc.

However, the complexity of the home environment is still a hurdle on the road to the full popularization of household robots. Faced with diverse and unpredictable scenarios in the home, robots need to have more advanced algorithms and vision systems to cope with various challenges. In order to improve efficiency and control costs, future humanoid robots may adopt more practical designs, such as wheeled movement, to accommodate more diverse household needs.

In addition, the lack of effective voice control is also a major challenge for domestic robots. At present, although there are some robot products on the market that integrate basic speech recognition functions, there are still many problems in actual use. For example, accuracy and responsiveness are often subpar, especially in noisy environments, where bots may not be able to correctly recognize the user's instructions, resulting in a greatly compromised user experience. For example, most of the existing voice control systems rely on cloud processing, which means that the function cannot be used without a network connection, which is a major concern for users who are looking for stability and privacy protection.

In response to these challenges, Agaxi is integrating its self-built large-scale model edge deployment solution into its robots. In this way, even in the absence of a network connection, the robot can provide safe and efficient intelligent interaction services, meeting the user's high standards of privacy protection and system stability.

"The development of domestic robots is gradually crossing the technological gap and moving towards a more intelligent and humanized direction. Although there are still challenges such as voice control accuracy and human-computer interaction experience, every technological breakthrough is a sign that a better life is coming. Gao Buchun said.

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