The hottest handicraft era has entered the robot e

"Manual age" has entered the "robot age"

this is not a distant guess. Will 2011 be the first year when the manual era enters the robot era

Foxconn, the world's largest contract manufacturing enterprise with 1.2 million workers, recently released an explosive news, which claimed that it would invest at least 100billion yuan and introduce 1million robots in the next three years

on July 29, as chairman and President of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. (Hon Hai Technology Group, the parent company, which many people are used to calling Foxconn), Gou Taiming and his wife attended the company's

10000 people party in Shenzhen. He was very emotional, and revealed that Foxconn would increase the number of robots on the production line to complete simple and repetitive work, reaching 300000 next year, In three years, the scale of robots will reach 1million

the news surprised the outside world. Hou Runshi, general manager of Hangzhou kelda Robot Technology Co., Ltd., has the biggest doubt about Foxconn's 1million robots. At present, the global production capacity of industrial robots is not enough to achieve 1million robots in three years. Where do so many robots come from to sell to Foxconn? According to the professional survey data provided by zhangzhenhui, deputy manager of the robot business department of stauber (Hangzhou) precision machinery and Electronics Co., Ltd., the annual installed capacity of domestic robots in 2004 was 3493, which is expected to exceed 10000 this year. Even in 2013, the estimated annual installed capacity of the market is only 16500. Therefore, Foxconn will introduce 1million robots within three years, which will inevitably be questioned

however, some insiders believe that Foxconn's introduction of robots conveys at least three meanings to the outside world: first, cost reengineering accelerates; Second, the arrival of industrial transformation; Third, improve the bargaining power and make yourself and all partners nervous. In Zhejiang, where manufacturing enterprises gather, in fact, many Zhejiang enterprises have begun to introduce robots on production lines. At the same time, some enterprises in Hangzhou have begun to enter the robot industry. Kelda Group Co., Ltd. and stauber (Hangzhou) precision machinery and Electronics Co., Ltd. are the vanguard of this industry. The two units revealed that their orders are large, and the demand for robots is constantly increasing

how many enterprises in Hangzhou have introduced robots? When the pressure of rising labor costs and raw material costs hit, how many enterprises chose the development route of introducing robots as equipment upgrading? What is the one-time investment and daily maintenance cost of introducing robots? Although the use of robots improves the production efficiency, will it bring some unexpected troubles

service robots developed by central control

robots change the modern production mode

some people predict that the cost of Foxconn investing in a robot

can be recovered within a few months

some robot manufacturers have revealed that they supply up to 300 robots to Foxconn Group, with prices ranging from 400000 yuan/set to 800000 yuan/set, Some of them serve in the Foxconn Qiantang science and Technology Industrial Park in Xiasha. In the face of this newspaper's interview, the staff of Foxconn Qiantang science and Technology Industrial Park can reduce the fuel consumption by 0.3 to 0.6 liters per hundred kilometers, saying that they need the consent of the headquarters to be interviewed. Mr. Chen, from the Foxconn headquarters media office, said that the company would not respond to media interviews about robots at present

however, some insiders said that the robots widely used by Foxconn are mainly used in the painting process. Foxconn is using a very expensive paint, which costs thousands of yuan/liter, and the painting robot can save 30% - 50%. According to the order volume of Foxconn, some people have calculated that the one-time investment cost of purchasing robots by this unit can be recovered in a few months

in fact, many large enterprises in Hangzhou introduced robots as early as a few years ago, such as cigarette factories, large machinery factories and some automobile equipment factories. In the automatic plant of Zhejiang Chint Solar Energy Technology Co., Ltd., the process flow chart is pasted on the wall, and there are more than 20 process links. The robot is arranged in the two core links of amorphous silicon coating and microcrystalline silicon coating. The behemoth like robot is fixed on a long guide rail with high glass equipment on both sides. A logistics transport vehicle similar to a locomotive constantly transports 1.1 m 1.3 m glass to the robot. After receiving the instruction, the robot transports the glass to the designated station for process production. After the process is completed, the finished product is transported back to the corresponding container. Such a complete glass handling process, if manually operated, requires two people to lift it together, and it takes at least twoorthree minutes, and even accidentally breaks the glass. A robot can easily complete it in as little as 70 seconds at most

Yu Dayang, manager of the automation integrated film development department of Zhejiang Chint Solar Energy Technology Co., Ltd., gave an example: it takes at least two people to move such a large piece of glass. If you work in three shifts 24 hours, it takes at least six people a day. These six people worked at full capacity within 24 hours, carrying up to 1000 pieces of glass a day. Such a workload, if it is done by a robot, can complete the handling of a piece of glass in 70 seconds, and it only takes 70000 seconds to complete the handling of 1000 pieces of glass, that is, 19.4 hours, far less than 24 hours

Yu Dayang revealed that the company has introduced robots since 2009. The purchase price of these robots is about 400000 yuan. The daily maintenance is very simple, mainly changing the oil, and the maintenance cost is about 10000 yuan/year. As far as we know, the service life of robots is usually more than 8 years, and there are almost no failures during work. It is generally enough to maintain them once a year. Yu Dayang said that handling glass is a boring job, and glass is fragile. Robots can just solve these problems. At present, the company has purchased five six axis robots and three four axis robots from Switzerland and Japan respectively

the application of service robots in daily life is very common. This is the service robot developed by central control entering the photography shop

robot industry changed by the market

small and medium-sized enterprises are also eager to hire robots

more flexible robots may appear in the market in the future

while large enterprises actively introduce robots, some small and medium-sized enterprises begin to introduce robots

manipulator (the professional term is automatic special machine, and the difference between robot and automatic special machine is that robot can realize flexible manufacturing, and when the workpiece is changed, it can adapt to the new workpiece through updating the program, while automatic special machine is difficult to realize this function). Although the degree of automation can not be compared with robot, because of the relatively low price, manipulator with a price of tens of thousands of yuan is deeply loved by some small and medium-sized enterprises

Hangzhou Tonglu Danxia pen industry Co., Ltd., founded in 1997, spent 20000 yuan to introduce the first manipulator in 2008, and then continuously increased investment. Now it has 15 manipulators and 5 automatic assembly machines, realizing the production mode dominated by mechanical automatic production, and has become an early automation pioneer in Tonglu water separation pen industry circle. After more than three years, these manipulators have operated stably, and the maintenance cost is within the acceptable range of the enterprise

replacing pure manual production with robots greatly improves the yield of production and saves labor costs. Lian mengdan, the sales manager of the company, said that a robot can replace nearly 20 workers, and now only one person can manage a robot. Our staff has been reduced from 200 before 2008 to more than 80. According to Lian mengdan, with fewer staff, the company's production capacity rose instead of falling, up 30% from three years ago. In addition to the stable product quality, liandanmeng said that the business volume of the company is constantly improving, with an annual output value of more than 30million yuan, and its popularity is increasing in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangzhou and other places

compared with large enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises have limited financing channels, so in terms of initial investment, they will be relatively inclined to robots with relatively low prices. Zhenghongbo, general manager of the robotics division of the China Control Research Institute, revealed that with the rising labor costs, more and more small and medium-sized enterprises have an increasing demand for robots or robots. We have successfully developed the central control of service robots such as Haibao and football robot, and will also consider developing robotic arms with visual sensing function in the future. As far as I know, the automation level of a simple manipulator is not high enough, but the manipulator with added visual sensing function will be more suitable for the actual production situation of small and medium-sized enterprises

capital flows to the robot industry

robot manufacturing enterprises sell not only robots

but a complete set of solutions

on the afternoon of August 10, Hou Runshi, general manager of Hangzhou kelda Robot Technology Co., Ltd., made a special trip to an enterprise in Xiaoshan, which intends to introduce a large number of industrial robots. They need to know the technological process of this unit on the spot first, and then tell the enterprise whether it needs to introduce robots according to the actual situation

at present, the market demand for robots is almost blowout. We have so many orders that we hardly have time to produce. Hou Runshi refers to a complete set of solutions with robots as the core, rather than a simple robot ontology. According to reports, since the robot industry is still in its infancy, many enterprises do not understand the application of robots, and they often can only say a general demand. We must design a robot workstation or robot white paperboard with the output of about 14.51 million tons according to the needs of customers and the actual production process; The detailed plan of the automatic assembly line with the output of cultural paper excluding coated paper, household paper, paper and special paper of 28.31 million tons. In addition, we also need to train relevant talents who can use and maintain robots for enterprises, which takes time

Zhang Zhenhui, the customer support manager of stauber (Hangzhou) precision machinery and Electronics Co., Ltd., has the same view on the market as Hou Runshi. He said that the market demand for robots has been growing since the financial crisis in 2008. Taking his company as an example, the sales of last year have fully doubled compared with the previous year. The financial crisis shelved the projects of some enterprises, and resumed the projects after the crisis, boosting the market demand for robots. In Zhang Zhenhui's customer list, there are cars