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“The successful creation of artificial intelligence may be the greatest event in the history of human civilization.” As a representative of them, Robots are also becoming “THE NEXT THING” in the technology industry.

In 2021, the global sales of Industrial robots will reach 486,800 units, an increase of 27% year-on-year; the turnover of the service robot market will increase by 12% year-on-year, while the scale of my country’s robot market in 2021 is about 83.9 billion yuan, and half of the robots are working as workers in factories. , these all show that we are striding into the era of RaaS-robot services (RaaS-:Robot as a service). And Midea has also entered the Robot Industry track since 2003. Since its development, it has deeply laid out the robot industry chain in industrial, household, commercial and other fields.

1. All-round workers in industrial manufacturing

With the rapid development of intelligent manufacturing and the introduction of a series of favorable policies in the “14th Five-Year Plan for Robot Industry Development”, industrial robots have begun to be widely used in various production links, replacing manual repetitive operations or processing operations in hazardous environments. It can not only alleviate the problem of labor shortage, but also improve production efficiency and mass production scale.

Midea’s all-around worker, Kuka, is one of the outstanding players. It has launched industrial robots, collaborative robots, mobile robots, Swisslog automatic storage system products, etc., which are applied to automobiles, e-commerce, retail logistics, medical care, Metals, consumer goods, energy, plastics, entertainment and other industries.

KUKA industrial robots are inseparable from the three core components of controller, servo motor and reducer for serious work.

Among them, the reducer is the part with the highest technical barriers in the core components, and it is also the component with the largest cost in the Industrial Robot. Its performance level such as accuracy and durability directly determines the performance of the whole robot, accounting for 30% of the total cost of the robot above. The high-precision and long-life design technology of the harmonic reducer led by Midea enables the harmonic reducer to have higher precision and longer design life, which greatly improves the performance of the harmonic reducer and reduces the damage caused by the reducer. various losses.

In the face of broad market prospects and favorable policy support, KUKA is also continuing to ride the wind and waves. In the first half of 2022, KUKA China’s revenue increased by 36% year-on-year, and it has established cooperative relationships with multiple leading customers. For example, in the field of new energy, it has received orders for more than 20,000 robots.

2. New AI species, new members of smart families

At present, the scale of the household robot market is expanding rapidly, with a growth rate of 42.9% from 2013 to 2021, while domestic consumption of household robots is mostly cleaning robots. The comprehensive intelligent home robot is still in a blank state in the market. In June this year, Midea launched the home robot brand WISHUG and the first home service robot Xiaowei, which filled the gap of this product and solution and gave home robots greater possibilities.

As a new species of AI, Xiaowei integrates five core technologies: 3D semantic map, semantic navigation, body/face tracking, speech/delivery, and mobile projection. Tech playmates and other identities.

Xiaowei, who is warm, perceptible and thinking, is not only the carrier of smart home control, but also an entrance to intelligent scenes. It provides convenience for family life by realizing active services in advance, and also uses the image of a smart and loving family member. Bring a new sense of technology experience to more families.

In addition, Midea has been approved to build a national new-generation artificial intelligence open innovation platform for intelligent service robots. It will continue to build an open ecosystem for intelligent service robots, and join hands with experts and scholars from all walks of life to promote the development of the upstream and downstream industries of intelligent service robots.

3. Are home appliances also robots?

In the future, the development of smart home will go through “passive service stage”, “active service stage” and “robotization stage”, that is, home appliances will develop in the direction of robotization.

What is Home Appliance Robotization?

To put it simply, it is to give home appliances the attributes of relevant robots, so that they can change from a pure tool person of passive service to a high-quality family partner who perceives the environment with “eyes and ears” and actively performs tasks.

Midea has led the formulation of the group standard “Guidelines for the Robotization of Household Appliances” for the exploration of the robotization of home appliances. Based on the AI ​​technology and IoT technology of intelligent home appliances, Midea integrates mechanical and electrical integration, sensory integration, human-machine collaboration and other technologies. As the core focus to build a home appliance robotics technology system.

At present, Midea has developed different degrees of robotized home appliances. In addition to housework, Midea has continued to gain insight into new scenarios of Robotic application of home appliances.

In the future, home appliances may also evolve in the direction of leisure and entertainment and safe recovery, unlocking more roles.

4. Waiters in the commercial field

Out of the house, commercial service robots can be seen everywhere in shopping malls, airports, and hotels. In 2021, the size of China’s commercial service robot market will reach 540 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 110.4%. With the rise of the unmanned economy, robot waiters have also become an emerging role in the commercial field. Midea also released a smart shopping guide robot for digital stores in June this year, the R10 Hospitality King.

Through AI technology, R10 has endowed with local interactive capabilities such as in-depth vision, voice interaction, and autonomous navigation. At the same time, it has also connected with the Midea cloud platform to build and improve the shopping guide marketing interaction knowledge system and map, providing data support for the refined operation of the store.

Robots are the jewel inlaid in the crown of the manufacturing industry, and their R&D, manufacturing and application are important symbols to measure a country’s technological innovation and high-end manufacturing level. From the robotization of traditional home appliances to the shopping guide, cleaning, service, and cooking robots in sub-sectors, and from indoor to outdoor garden, agricultural, and industrial robots, Midea is committed to creating an open, connected, and integrated robot platform that integrates human and machine. The application scenarios of collaboration extend to many aspects of life.

To this end, Midea continues to increase investment in technology research and development, in-depth layout of electromechanical technology, electronic hardware technology, human-computer interaction and other technologies, promote product development and iteration, and create a smart and beautiful life in the future!