At this year's two sessions, "artificial intelligence +" was written into the government work report for the first time, demonstrating that artificial intelligence has become a national strategy. As an important field of deep integration of artificial intelligence technology and manufacturing, the robot industry has developed rapidly. Under the new situation, artificial intelligence technology continues to innovate and promote the vigorous development of the robot industry, covering many fields such as medical care, intelligent manufacturing, and service robots.
According to the "14th Five-Year Plan" for the development of the robot industry, by 2025, the mainland will become the source of global robot technology innovation, a high-end manufacturing cluster and a new highland for integrated applications. Song Xiaogang, executive chairman and secretary general of the China Robot Industry Alliance, introduced that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, in the face of the development of manufacturing and other industries, as well as the needs of family services and other fields, the mainland will focus on promoting the innovation and application of key products of industrial robots, service robots and special robots, and promote the development of high-end and intelligent products.
Song Xiaogang said that in terms of service robots, the focus is on the development of agricultural robots, mining robots, construction robots, medical rehabilitation robots, elderly care and disability robots, household service robots and public service robots.
Classified according to the application field of robots, robots can be divided into industrial robots, personal/household service robots, public service robots, special robots, and other application field robots. According to the definition of the Glossary of Robots and Robot Equipment (GB/T 12643-2013), a service robot refers to a robot that can complete useful tasks for humans or equipment except for industrial automation applications.
From the perspective of the industrial chain, the service robot industry can be divided into the development of core components and software systems in the upstream, the ontology manufacturing of service robots in the midstream, individual consumers in the downstream and commercial users in various application scenarios. The technology involved in the service robot industry chain spans many high-tech fields such as communication and artificial intelligence, and the technical barriers in each link are high. With the continuous development of the service robot industry, many excellent enterprises have emerged in the market. ABB, KUKA and other foreign manufacturers occupy a first-mover advantage in the field of controllers and other components, and domestic companies seek breakthroughs in emerging technologies such as lidar sensors and AI chips, and have achieved phased results, with major companies such as Shenyang Xinsong, Horizon, Cambrian, etc. In terms of operating systems and software services, domestic enterprises have maintained an international leading position in the wave of artificial intelligence technology. The main machine manufacturing enterprises are Canny Youlan, Shenyang SIASUN, UBTECH, Ecovacs, etc.
According to the IT orange database, the financing of the service robot industry in mainland China will reach its peak in 2021, with a total of 110 financing events and a total financing amount of 24.299 billion yuan. Judging from the number and amount of investment and financing in the industry in recent years, although the number of investment and financing declined in 2018-2019, the amount of investment and financing in the industry continues to rise, as of September 14, 2022, there have been 64 financing events in the service robot industry in mainland China, with a financing amount of 12.899 billion yuan.
With the arrival of the second half of 2024, local governments have paid more and more attention to the investment promotion of the service robot industry. The government has introduced supportive policies to encourage investors to participate in the service robot industry and promote its development and growth. This trend will bring more financial support and policy support to the service robot industry, help its technological innovation and market expansion, and promote the healthy development of the industry. At the same time, the government's attention will also attract more enterprises and investors to participate in the service robot industry, injecting new vitality and impetus into its development.
So, what is the trend of major enterprises in the domestic service robot industry?
Ecovacs
According to a report released by Wuzhong, the official account of Wuzhong District Government, the "Ecovacs Robot Large Model Algorithm" developed by Ecovacs Household Robot Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Ecovacs, has successfully passed the deep synthesis service algorithm filing of the Cyberspace Administration of China, and it is reported that this is also the first large model algorithm in the field of domestic household robots that has passed the national record. As the first large-scale model algorithm in China that has passed the national record in the field of household robots, the application scenarios of this model include the autonomous decision-making of intelligent household robots, the efficient question and answer of intelligent customer service systems, etc.
In 2023, Ecovacs will launch DEEBOT X2 equipped with AINA AI model, which can improve the overall cleaning experience of users by strengthening AI learning capabilities. The DEEBOT X5 PRO launched in 2024 applies a more advanced large language model technology - YIKO Voice 2.0, which gets rid of the drawbacks of the past sweeping robot can only understand word-by-word voice commands, and the product can fully understand the user's daily natural expression, even if the user's more vague expression can understand the user's meaning.
In the first quarter of 2024, Ecovacs' profitability continued to improve. Since the beginning of this year, Ecovacs has successively released a variety of products to cover different price segments, among which, the DEEBOT T30 series products launched for the mainstream price range of 3,000 yuan to 4,000 yuan, the omni-channel sales exceeded 50,000 units within 15 days of listing, and other new products such as X2combo, X2S, and X5PRO are also highly competitive in the corresponding price segments; According to this year's market pattern, the Timco brand has also launched new products such as the intelligent floor scrubber StretchMix and the intelligent cooking machine Shiwan 3.0CE.
According to Qichamao, Ecovacs Robot Co., Ltd. was established on March 11, 1998, with a registered capital of 576,462,580 yuan, the legal representative Zhuang Jianhua, the company's business scope includes: research and development, design, manufacturing of household service robots, intelligent cleaning machinery and equipment, electronic products and related parts, mechanical and electrical products, non-metallic molds, import and export of goods and technology (excluding distribution business), sales of the company's own products. (For projects subject to approval in accordance with the law, business activities can only be carried out after approval by relevant departments).
According to the equity puncture chart of Qichamao, at present, Ecovacs has laid out 10 companies in Shanghai, Guangdong, Beijing, Jiangsu and other places. Looking forward to the future, Ecovacs said that it will further increase its investment in overseas markets, improve product structure, optimize channel layout, expand geographical markets, promote the sustained and rapid growth of overseas revenue, and achieve a balanced distribution of domestic and overseas market revenue; Deepen the strategic layout of core categories of sweeping robots and floor scrubbers, and at the same time achieve extensive penetration and breakthroughs in key markets and regions at home and abroad through innovative technology applications, rich product matrix and perfect price system.
The development of the service robot industry
——The service robot industry is in a period of expansion and development
The development of service robots is closely related to the robot industry, the research of robots in the continent began in the 70s of the 20th century, and has been more than 30 years, so far it is roughly divided into three periods: gestation period, planning and development period and expansion development period.
——The service robot market is in a stage of rapid growth
In 2020, the service robot market in mainland China will grow rapidly, and the demand for medical care, education, public services and other fields will become the main driving force. Under the influence of market demand fluctuations, the market growth rate will be corrected in 2021, but with the acceleration of the aging trend of the population, as well as the continued strong demand for medical and public services, coupled with the vast territory, changeable climate, complex geological conditions, and obvious diversified characteristics of social development, there is a prominent demand for special robots in response to earthquakes, flood disasters, extreme weather, and public safety events such as mining disasters, fires, and security, so there is a huge market potential and development space for service robots in the mainland. The market size and overall proportion will also continue to grow. According to the preliminary calculation of the Chinese Institute of Electronics, in 2021, the market size of service robots (including special robots) in mainland China will reach 39.33 billion yuan.
- Personal/Public Service Robot Market Analysis
Personal service robots mainly include housework robots, educational robots, entertainment robots, elderly care and disability assistance robots, household safety supervision robots, personal transportation robots, etc.
With the continuous development of the domestic economy and technology, the society's yearning for a scientific and technological lifestyle, at the same time, the per capita income level of cities and towns continues to increase, and residents have the ability to consume products, which makes the market penetration rate of personal/household service robots continue to increase. Housework robots and educational robots have attracted the attention of enterprises and capital parties by virtue of their high demand and frequency of use, and the products have gone through a certain period of development, and the technology is relatively mature, and they are gradually increasing in the market; Due to the complexity of technology and the challenges in the realization of product functions, entertainment robots and elderly care and disability assistance robots still face certain bottlenecks in product popularization.
The scope of public service robots is broader, as long as the robots that can provide services to the public or public equipment belong to this type of service robots.
-- Market analysis of medical service robots
At present, the largest application field of special robots is the medical field. The technological innovation of medical service robots has broadened the application field of products and improved the professionalism of diagnosis and treatment. For example, in the early days, capsule endoscopic robots were uncontrollable after entering the body, but in recent years, with the research and development and breakthrough of a series of innovative technologies such as precise magnetic field control and photoelectric imaging, capsule endoscopic robots have achieved revolutionary controllability and precise positioning functions. For example, Anhan Medical's magnetically controlled capsule endoscopic robot has an accuracy of 93.4% in the diagnosis of gastric focal lesions, and has been widely promoted and used in China.
Medical service robots are mainly used in the field of surgery, at present, China's surgical robot market is still in the early stage of development, but the growth potential is huge; This is due to the large number of patients in China and the large number of routine minimally invasive surgeries that may require the use of surgical robots. According to the preliminary statistics of Frost & Sullivan, the market size of surgical robots in China will be about US$760 million in 2021, of which the market size of laparoscopic surgical robots will increase from US$80 million in 2015 to US$558 million in 2021.
——Market analysis of other special robots
In addition to medical service robots, special robots are also used in security, underwater, water, pipelines, fire protection, coal mines and other fields to achieve application breakthroughs for specific scenarios.
——Competitive factions in China's service robot industry
Classified according to the application field of robots, robots can be divided into industrial robots, personal/household service robots, public service robots, special robots, and other application field robots. A service robot is a robot that can perform useful tasks for humans or equipment in addition to industrial automation applications. Due to the different needs of products, the service robot products in different fields are quite different, so the competitors in the market segmentation are also very different, the main products and competition in the industry are as follows:
——The penetration rate of the service robot industry has gradually increased, and it is moving towards intelligence and specialization
Technologies represented by artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things will drive the service robot industry to move rapidly towards intelligence, innovation, and digitalization. In the future, robots are expected to become the entrance and connector of scene data, and an important link to realize the integration of full-scene digitalization and cloud-edge-end collaboration. With the advancement of the national strategy and the development of the industrial chain, more and more organizations and individuals will participate in the service robot industry, and the development pattern of "government, industry, learning, research, use, and capital" will gradually take shape, and the service robot will continue to penetrate into all walks of life, and realize the application in some industries.
The industrial chain of service robots will gradually improve, technological innovation achievements will gradually accumulate, the industry will become more large-scale and systematic, the processing capacity in specific businesses will become more and more professional, and the product functions will become more and more subdivided.
According to the analysis of the prospective industry research institute, with the development of technology, the application demand for service robots has increased, the service robot market has gradually opened, and China's service robots are about to enter the market start-up period. The new crown pneumonia epidemic has given rise to "contactless" services, and service robots have ushered in major development opportunities. Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the market size may reach 75.18 billion yuan in 2023, and the market size of China's service robots is expected to reach 187.2 billion yuan by 2027.
Tao Yong, a researcher at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said that service robots are a fast-growing emerging field, with many types, covering medical rehabilitation robots, elderly and disabled robots, family education and entertainment robots, commercial robots, etc. Sweeping and vacuuming robots used by ordinary people, unmanned delivery robots in shopping malls and office buildings, and food delivery robots in restaurants are all service robots. In this field, the mainland and other countries in the world with developed robot industries are in a parallel position, and may lead in some fields in the future. Service robots are expected to enter thousands of households in the future and achieve large-scale and wide-ranging applications.
Prospective Economist APP Information Group
For more research and analysis of this industry, please refer to the "Market Prospect and Investment Strategic Planning Analysis Report of China's Service Robot Industry" by the Prospective Industry Research Institute.
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