Zhou Xingyou, chairman of PIA Intelligence, a listed company on the Science and Technology Innovation Board: The market space for humanoid robots may be much larger than that of automobiles

Reporter: Zhu Chengxiang Editor: Dong Xingsheng

Is the "era of humanoid robots" coming?

At the recent "2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference", the humanoid robot "Eighteen King Kongs" were neatly arranged, causing strong repercussions, and the appearance of Tesla's second-generation humanoid robot Optimus also sparked heated discussions.

PIA Intelligent (SH688306, stock price 3.86 yuan, market value 4.741 billion yuan) is one of the few listed companies on the Science and Technology Innovation Board that has launched a humanoid robot ontology.

Recently, Zhou Xingyou, Chairman of PIA, and Guo Jishun, President of PIA Artificial Intelligence and Humanoid Robot Research Institute, accepted an exclusive interview with the reporter of "National Business Daily".

Zhou Xingyou believes: "The humanoid robot industry is many times larger than the car, but (this market) is still in the process of slowly maturing. Our judgment is that the initial maturity is at least 5 years later, and after 5 years, (humanoid robots) may gradually enter some service industries, but it will take at least another 5 or even 10 years for (humanoid robots) to fully mature and become a very large market. ”

As a global supplier of intelligent manufacturing equipment, PIA is mainly engaged in the research and development, production, sales and service of robots and industrial digital intelligent software. Courtesy of the company

Industrial scenarios will be the first to be applied

The reporter of "Daily Economic News" noticed that although the "Eighteen King Kongs" at the "2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference" are magnificent, at present, there are still few cases of humanoid robots landing.

In Zhou Xingyou's view, humanoid robots may first be applied to the industrial field. Zhou Xingyou said: "Industrial application scenarios are a very good channel, that is, to achieve commercialization through industrial scenarios, and to support R&D through commercialization, and our view has also been widely recognized by our partners. ”

Zhou Xingyou divided the development of robots into three stages. The first stage is industrial robots, such as KUKA and Fanuc; The second stage is a humanoid robot; The third stage is a humanoid robot.

Zhou Xingyou judged that after 5 years, humanoid robots can initially mature, and in the transition stage, humanoid and humanoid robots in industrial scenarios have a broad space for development.

However, the general humanoid robot ontology requires strong generalization ability and a high degree of intelligence, which is still difficult to achieve at present. In contrast, industrial scenarios do not require particularly strong generalization capabilities and can be quickly commercialized.

Zhou Xingyou explained: "People are highly flexible and highly generalized, but in the factory, they often need specialized capabilities, and if there is a suitable choice and appropriate technology, they can immediately replace people in industrial production, which is the concept of humanoid robots we are proposing now, for example, humanoid robots are very suitable for porters, inspections, etc." ”

Guo Jishun added: "As far as the current robot landing is concerned, the industrial scenario has a higher output value, stronger certainty and clearer tasks than home care services and other services, and compared with the service scenarios guided by natural persons, the production and warehousing scenarios guided by the factory Internet of Things and intelligent systems are easier to land humanoid robots or humanoid robots." ”

In short, the demand for humanoid and humanoid robots in industrial scenarios is determined, and the technology is relatively simple. Therefore, Guo Jishun believes: "In the next three to five years, industry and warehousing will be the best scenarios for humanoid and humanoid robots to land." ”

The factory of the future will be a convergence

As for why he entered the field of humanoid robots, Zhou Xingyou replied to the reporter of "Daily Economic News": "First of all, we are optimistic about humanoid robots, because this track may far exceed cars in the future; Second, this field is still very immature, whether it is embodied intelligence, multimodal fusion, and hardware solutions, it is very immature. There is an expectation of large-scale commercialization of humanoid (robot) ontologies, but it is still a long time away; Third, the application of industrial scenarios is a very good channel for humanoid robots to develop in the direction of general humanoid ontology. ”

Industrial scenarios are where PIA's advantages lie. It is reported that PIA, as a global intelligent manufacturing equipment supplier, is mainly engaged in the research and development, production, sales and service of complete sets of assembly and testing intelligent manufacturing equipment, robots and industrial digital intelligent software.

Zhou Xingyou also said: "We are a very important supplier of solution solutions and system integration in the field of intelligent manufacturing, not only at the production line level, but also at the workshop level and even at the factory level. ”

"What are the requirements for industrial robots at the production line level? Large-scale, high-temporate, high-stability production, but it is usually in conflict with high flexibility, so the flexibility of the production line itself is not high. In addition, there is also a need for docking between production lines and production lines, although large-scale automated production has been realized, but such as inspection, loading and unloading, etc., still need people. Therefore, the demand for humanoid robots in industrial scenarios is very strong. ”

Regarding the difference between humanoid robots, humanoid robots and industrial robots, Zhou Xingyou believes: "Industrial robots, simply put, are a robotic arm, while humanoid and humanoid have a lot of freedom in joints, and the degree of freedom is much higher than that of industrial robots. In addition, the humanoid robot must have the ability of embodied intelligence, although its generalization ability may not be strong, such as let it screw it, it will only screw it, but it has a lot of generalization ability in the field of screwing, such as its own identification, planning, etc. ”

It adds: "It must be much better than industrial robots, much more flexible. Of course, it doesn't beat that fast compared to industrial robots. However, in some processes, strong flexibility is required, and the input and output of industrial robots do not match. At this time, the needs of more flexible (humanoid, humanoid) robots are well matched. The current factory is still a fusion between people and equipment, and the factory of the future is a fusion between humanoid robots and equipment. ”

Guo Jishun emphasized: "Humanoid robots are not meant to replace industrial robots, but a supplement to industrial robots, and the two work together." ”

Prefer to be a first-tier supplier

The logical chain of intelligent driving is perception, decision-making, and execution, so is humanoid robots similar to them? In this regard, Guo Jishun believes: "Intelligent driving is 'off-the-body intelligence', trying not to touch any objects on the road, is to avoid logic. Even when I reach my destination, no one will touch me. The characteristic of robots is to influence the world, and embodied intelligence must interact with the world and become a member of the world. Humanoid robots are similar to intelligent driving in the underlying technology, but the approach is slightly different, which we summarize as embodied perception, embodied imagination and embodied execution. ”

Guo Jishun elaborated to the reporter of "Daily Economic News": "Embodied perception is similar to intelligent driving, so many technologies in humanoid robot perception are now migrated from intelligent driving. The second is embodied imagination, which is similar to planning and forecasting. There will be a virtual simulation platform in the robot's brain, such as taking a cup, and it will predict various ways to hold the cup, which one will hold the most stable. Embodied execution is very similar to the control algorithm of intelligent driving. ”

So, since humanoid robots and intelligent driving are similar in the industrial chain, will intelligent driving industry chain enterprises such as Hesai, Suteng, and Horizon also migrate their technology to humanoid robots in the future? "At this stage, there is no new technology product in robots, such as all kinds of sensors, which are very mature in other fields, which means that the future will come from the migration of giants in other fields, rather than 'emerging'. Under this logic, integration is one of the key areas of PIA's development, and we will release kits, more to build a robot ecological platform including ontology, core components, software and hardware combined with intelligent manufacturing solutions, to gain market share. Guo Jishun said.

Regarding PIA's positioning in the humanoid robot track, Guo Jishun said: "PIA hopes to promote cooperation with humanoid robot-related companies with the R&D of industrial application ontology as the traction, including but not limited to multi-dimensional cooperation such as joint R&D, robot assembly and parts supply. ”

In Guo Jishun's view: "Compared with the automotive industry, there are fewer robot parts, and the industrial chain will be relatively shorter, which means that the possibility of winner take-all is greater, and technical barriers are easier to establish." Because we understand the production line, in terms of humanoid robot cooperation, at least under industrial production conditions, many humanoid robot companies now need to cooperate with us. ”

From a higher architectural point of view, Zhou Xingyou believes: "PIA not only masters the manufacturing capabilities (of humanoid robots), but also masters the scene. ”

Guo Jishun explained: "Now we are working extensively with humanoid robot ontology companies to provide them with scenarios to help them quickly land in industrial scenarios. By cooperating with humanoid robot companies, we can quickly accumulate the technical proportion and product proportion of key components based on their needs, and when the technology is mature and the products are large-scale, we can go faster than other companies. ”

However, Guo Jishun also said: "Because there are many technical routes in the field of robotics, in order to better make key components and verify key components, we are now also doing ontology, and the purpose of our ontology is to better forward development." ”

In other words, although PIA has also launched its own humanoid robot ontology "JARVIS", it is more inclined to be a system integrator, that is, a Tier1 (Tier 1 supplier) of humanoid robot companies.

National Business Daily