This is not the first time SoftBank has tried in the field of robots. As early as 2014, Masayoshi Son made his debut with Pepper, a humanoid robot developed by SoftBank Robot.

Zhidongxi (public account: zhidxcom)

Author | Jianen

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Last month, SoftBank CEO O Son publicly announced that SoftBank will launch a new generation of artificial intelligence robot "Smabo". The name is taken from the combination of "smart" and "robot", which means it will be more powerful.

This is not the first time SoftBank has tried in the field of robots. As early as 2014, Masayoshi Son made his debut with Pepper, a humanoid robot developed by SoftBank Robot. Three years later, SoftBank acquired the "Internet celebrity" robot company Boston Dynamics.

However, the development of Pepper and Boston Dynamics in SoftBank's hands is not smooth. This year, Pepper was exposed to suspension of production and layoffs. Boston Dynamics was also sold to Hyundai Automobile by SoftBank, and SoftBank only retains 20% of its shares. For a time, news about SoftBank's intention to reduce its robotics business came one after another.

, and SoftBank Smabo's official announcement directly shattered these rumors. Masayoshi Son's robot dream is still working, and it is getting bigger and bigger!

It is reported that SoftBank Group has successively invested in 18 robot-related companies through its funds. Especially this year, Masayoshi Son seems to be particularly optimistic about Chinese companies, leading investments in Youai Zhihe, Siling Robots, and Qinglang Intelligent one after another, and continues to "support the growth of various companies from the perspective of capitalists."

Why is Son full of enthusiasm for robots? Through SoftBank’s investment layout for seven consecutive years, what kind of robot map has he outlined? After replacing Boston Dynamics, in what direction will this long-planned SoftBank robot story develop?

needs to go back to the beginning of Masayoshi Sun's robot dream, and start with a well-known cartoon " Iron Arm Astro Boy ".

1. A boy had a dream of robots and wanted to "give robots a heart"

Masayoshi Son once told the media that he was attracted by the story of Astro Boy when he was very young, and became an "iron fan" of Astro Boy, and dreamed of creating a robot with emotions like Astro Boy.

This dream has always been with Son. It was not until he met French startup Aldebaran Robotics that the story of Son, SoftBank and Robots really began to unfold.

Aldebaran Robotics' main product is a humanoid robot called NAO, an intelligent programmable robot widely used in the fields of education and academics, and also has functions such as performance and family escort. Son believes this is very similar to his dream robot that can become a human assistant and companion.

humanoid robot NAO

In 2012, Masayoshi Son decided to invest in Aldebaran Robotics, acquired about 80% of its equity for US$100 million, and established SoftBank Robot Company on this basis, with its headquarters in France, engaged in the development of humanoid service robot Pepper.

Two years later, in 2014, Masayoshi Son led Pepper to make his debut at a press conference.

At this time, Masayoshi Son had high expectations for the future of robots. He made a bold statement: "We must strive to create a country where humans and robots coexist, and let Japan's competitiveness return to the world's first place by 2050."

Masayoshi Son's goal is to "give robots a heart" and hope that Pepper can become a companion at home. The biggest highlight of Pepper is that it is equipped with an "emotional engine" that allows robots to recognize human emotions and respond accordingly.

In 2015, Pepper officially began to sell to the market, and the road to commercialization began. Once released, Pepper was soon popular, and the first batch of 1,000 Peppers to be sold were sold out within one minute.

Masayoshi Son and Pepper

At this time, Masayoshi Son was full of energy. SoftBank’s robotics map was gradually unfolding under his careful arrangement. More and more robot companies may be invested by SoftBank or acquired by SoftBank.

In 2017, SoftBank threw out an olive branch to Boston Dynamics, a "Internet celebrity" robot company, and included it under its own leadership for US$921 million (about RMB 5.92 billion).

In addition to these two acquisitions, SoftBank's investment landscape also includes a number of robotic products or technology companies, such as Brain Corporation, which focuses on robotic artificial intelligence technology, Fetch Robotics, an independent mobile robot (AMR) manufacturer, and Berkshire Grey, a warehousing robot company.

In addition, there are some "non-mainstream" robot companies in Masayoshi Son's robot empire, such as Zume, which uses robots to make pizza.

seems to be thriving at this time, but no one expected that a crisis was brewing. Pepper, the two "Internet celebrities" that Masayoshi Son is proud of, and Boston Dynamics, became the Waterloo of its "robot empire", and the road to building the robot territory of SoftBank will also change accordingly.

2. The road to chasing dream robots is bumpy. SoftBank’s transformation direction

Pepper’s commercialization path has not developed along the route envisioned by Masayoshi Son. It was once in trouble due to problems such as expensive prices, simple functions, and unclear product positioning, and its sales situation is far from expectations.

Users who have purchased Pepper found that it is not as glamorous as advertised. Many tasks cannot be completed as long as they are a little more complicated. The emotional interaction function that Masayoshi Son strongly promotes is nothing but "small ribs". In many cases, it is more like a pre-set program and does not play any substantial role. The grand occasion of Pepper when it was first launched soon disappeared. After people's curiosity about Pepper gradually disappeared, they no longer paid for it.

In June this year, Reuters reported that Pepper had stopped production last year and SoftBank plans to lay off half of its robotics company's employees in France this year. In addition, SoftBank has laid off employees in sales in the United States and the United Kingdom. Pepper, who was once glorious, has basically come to an end since then.

According to reports, Pepper has sold only about 27,000 units since its launch in 2014 to its discontinuation. Correspondingly, SoftBank's robotics business suffered losses of up to US$1 billion in fiscal 2015 alone, and by 2017 it was even more insolvent.

At the same time, Boston Dynamics, which is popular on the Internet, is also not popular, and the road to commercialization has been unhappy.

Boston Dynamics is well known for its quadruped robot "Spot" and bipedal robot "Atlas". After SoftBank acquired Boston Dynamics, it has been trying to promote the commercialization of its robotics products. Until June 2020, Boston Dynamics, which has a history of nearly 30 years, finally launched its first commercial product, "Spot".

Boston Powered Four-legged Robot Spot

This robot is priced at nearly 500,000 yuan, and it is difficult to bring too much sales to it at such a price. According to Bloomberg , as of the end of 2020, "Spot" only sold about 400 units.

On the other hand, the research and development of Boston Dynamics Bionic Robot seems to be a bottomless pit and requires a lot of continuous investment. Perhaps it is the disproportionate investment and revenue that SoftBank finally decided to sell Boston Power.

In June this year, Hyundai Motor acquired 80% of Boston Dynamics' shares from SoftBank, and the story between SoftBank and Boston Dynamics has come to an end for the time being.

SoftBank's successive defeat in Pepper and Boston Dynamics did not change Masayoshi Son's robot dream. At this year's SoftBank World 2021 conference, Masayoshi Son once again said: "The key to Japan's revitalization is intelligent robots."

At the same time, Masayoshi Son also announced that SoftBank robots will launch a new generation of more powerful intelligent robots "Smabo", which will have 10 times more competitive in work than humans, which will liberate people from boring work and engage in more value-added work.

Obviously, Masayoshi Son still has high expectations for robots.

Masayoshi Son talks about the efficiency of robots

However, the unsmooth commercialization of Pepper and Boston Dynamics has caused SoftBank to begin to change the strategic direction of robots.

combined with SoftBank’s recent investment in various robot companies, especially in the past year, can be seen that compared with directly participating in the research and development and manufacturing of robots, SoftBank may appear more in the robot field in the form of investment related companies in the future.

Sun’s public conversation also confirmed this, saying: “In the future, rather than relying on one’s own business, we will choose to support the growth of various enterprises from the perspective of capitalists."

3. Masayoshi Son: Building an intelligent robot enterprise legion

Robots are still one of the key areas of SoftBank Group's focus. Masayoshi Son still seems extremely confident about SoftBank's current layout in the robot field.

He told the Nikkei News: "SoftBank's investment ranges from autonomous driving to surgery, cleaning, warehousing, etc., covering all fields, creating the most advanced intelligent robot 'enterprise legion'."

View SoftBank in robots Investment in the field is indeed worth giving him such confidence. Public information shows that SoftBank invests in artificial intelligence related unicorn companies, including 18 directly related to robots.

Some robot companies invested by SoftBank

As Masayoshi Son said, these companies cover several popular fields in the current robot industry, such as surgical robots, warehousing and logistics robots, food delivery robot , etc.

It is not difficult to see from these investments that compared with SoftBank’s previous investment in Pepper and Boston Dynamics personally entering the robot field, SoftBank’s investment in robots has become more pragmatic at this stage, and has turned to the robot field with stronger commercialization capabilities.

For example, the rise of e-commerce in recent years has caused the demand for warehousing and logistics to increase sharply, and various mobile robot have played an extremely important role in warehouses, logistics and other scenarios. Naturally, there are also a large number of warehousing and logistics robot companies in SoftBank's investment map.

For example, food delivery robots have become a "must-have for restaurants" in recent years. From the national chain of Haidilao to street restaurants, food delivery robots are introducing food delivery robots to serve restaurants, and food delivery robot companies have also grown up like mushrooms after a rain.

SoftBank, which is good at grasping the "future trend", naturally cannot let go of this east wind and has successively faced Bear, a US food delivery robot manufacturer. Robotics and Qinglang Intelligent, the leading manufacturer in the food delivery robot field in my country, made investments.

In September this year, Qinglang Intelligent announced that it had completed a US$200 million Series D financing, led by SoftBank Vision Fund. In addition, SoftBank and Qinglang Intelligent reached a global strategic partnership to expand the use of robots in the service industry.

Qinglang's various service robots

In addition to Qinglang Intelligent, domestic mobile robot manufacturer Youai Zhihe, and intelligent robot system research and development and application service provider Siling Robot are also This year, it has received investment from SoftBank.

SoftBank's consistent investment strategy is to invest huge funds in creative startups, and use huge investments to exchange huge returns. At present, warehousing and logistics robots, food delivery robots, etc. are developing in an increasingly mature direction. Compared with Pepper and Boston Dynamics, investment in these fields is obviously easier to get returns.

Son also has his own opinion on the future of the entire robot industry. He believes that the intelligent robot industry will replace it like the iPhone 6 sweeping feature phone. Traditional robots that set the program in advance by people.

Therefore, in SoftBank's future investment, various robots with artificial intelligence with stronger commercialization capabilities and clearer application scenarios may be the focus.

Conclusion: "Local" SoftBank is also afraid of burning money, and pays more attention to robot commercialization capabilities

SoftBank is a company that is very good at "investment in the future". From investing in Alibaba to investing in various robot companies now, all the time "investment and investment" and "buy, buy, buy, buy" have been like this for so many years.

Robots are a very popular topic at present. From the industrial field to the consumption field, robots have broad application prospects, which is also the reason why SoftBank has always been extremely enthusiastic about robots.

However, no matter how rich SoftBank is, it is afraid of spending money all the time. No matter how good Boston Dynamics and Pepper are, they can only be given up by pain. For Masayoshi Son, robots with superpowers like Astro Boy are a long-term dream, but investing in intelligent robots with more mature development and stronger commercialization capabilities may be the way to see returns.