"Robots can help revitalize Japan's economy and competitiveness!"
Japan SoftBank Group CEO OMasayoshi Son , what he said in 2021 has made many people begin to pay attention to the robot industry.
In Masayoshi Son's view, robots can rescue people from their boring lives, allowing the Japanese to focus on the research of upper-level science and technology, and thus improve the technological level of the entire Japan.
Then is his theory really reasonable? Can China follow the example? Let’s start with the development of robots in the world.
robot originated in the United States and flourished in Germany and Japan
The world's first real robot was jointly manufactured by Americans Engel Berg and DeWell.
Moreover, the encounter between the two was also extremely interesting. At that time, Engelberg was very interested in robots after reading the novel "I, Robot". After
, he met De Wol, who was also an inventor, at a cocktail party. After some negotiation, the two hit it off in terms of understanding the prospects of robots, and then embarked on the road of robot research and development together.
After three years of hard work, in 1959, they created the first industrial robot in human history, unimate (Unimet).
However, although Unimet claims to be a robot, it is actually just an robot arm . If you add some more, it is a robot arm compiled with code.
People in the world all have a skeptical attitude when facing this strange machine, which made unimate fall into the embarrassment of useless things in the first two years of its appearance.
But just when everyone thought the two of them had put their efforts in vain, General Motors suddenly announced the introduction of the unimate robot for production and assembly of its cars.
Of course, this does not mean that General Motors is optimistic about the development of robots. The main reason why they introduced unimate is that the hot die castings of cars are poisonous. Workers touch the assembly line for a long time, and various poisoning phenomena occurred in the limbs. In severe cases, they can even be amputated to save their lives.
At that time, the workers' protection law in the United States was relatively sound, and the prosecutions of workers and trade unions gave General Corporation a great headache.
Therefore, General Company thought of replacing artificial arms with robotic arms. Although this will increase production costs, it is better than the high litigation fees and compensation fees every year.
But General Company itself did not expect that his move gave robots an opportunity to develop.
After seeing General Motors introduce robots, many people thought this was a transformation of productivity in the new era, so they joined the queue supporting the development of robots.
As a result, robots have successfully gained a foothold in the United States and have gradually entered automobile production. However, the United States' own national conditions are not actually suitable for the development of robots.
First of all, although the United States has a strong industrial cluster, its labor supply is also very sufficient, which makes it difficult for robots to enter factory production lines on a large scale.
After all, early robots were extremely costly, and the quality was quite unstable, and the maintenance cost was extremely high. It was better to hire workers directly to produce them.
In addition, under the trend of globalization, the United States has gradually shifted its factories overseas, especially to developing countries , which has lower labor costs, which makes robots have no market in the United States.
is popular in Germany and Japan
However, the US robot industry is not big and it also represents other countries. For some countries, robots have great development potential, such as Germany and Japan.
This is mainly because Germany and Japan are both rapidly rising industrial countries, but their local area does not have sufficient labor to support it. This means that the two countries do not have a labor force that matches industrial development.
So, robots are the best "redemption" for these two countries. As Masayoshi Son said:
"Robots can help revitalize Japan's economy and competitiveness!"
Under this understanding, Japan and Germany launched their first robots in 1974 and 1973 respectively, which is a very leading existence in the world.
But it is worth mentioning that whether it is Japan or Germany, their robot technology actually comes from the United States. To be precise, it is the parent company of unimate robot - unimation.
For example, Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industry Group has opened up the robot field that belongs to Japan by introducing the technology and talents of the unimation company.
Also like the German Kuka Group, they also launched the development of robots by introducing unimation technology, allowing Germany to enter the era of robots.
At the same time, in order to greatly develop the robot industry, Germany and Japan have also formulated relevant policies. For example, Japan has specially established the world's first robot industry association---------------------JIRA.
Under the leadership of industry associations, a number of Japanese robot companies have exclusive policy support and financial assistance, and have achieved unprecedented development.
Moreover, after Germany and Japan started the development of robots, they happened to meet the great era of automobile development. Countless emerging automobile production has made the use of robots extremely widespread.
Japan has even become the world's number one robot country. You should know that three of the five robot giants in today's era come from Japan, namely Fanuc, which ranks first, second and fourth, Epson , and Yaskawa Mechanical and Electrical.
What is the development of the robot industry in my country, which is across the sea from Japan?
Chinese Robot: Restrained by Germany and Japan
First of all, we must know that although my country cannot compare with these countries based on industry, it is not too late for high-end industries such as robots.
According to the current public information, my country's research on robots originated in 1972. After eight years of hard work, the Shenyang Institute of Automation launched the first industrial robot belonging to China in 1980.
In 1985, Shanghai Jiaotong University further launched 6-degree-of-freedom joint robot , which was at the leading level in the world at that time.
However, it is surprising that in the 21st century, my country's robot industry has not been as brilliant as before. Not only is the number of robots not as good as Germany and Japan, but even the technology and parts are clamped by Germany and Japan.
Among them, especially the control of parts is the most representative. It should be noted that robot manufacturing is similar to automobile manufacturing, and it also has the saying of "three major parts".
The difference is that the three major parts of a car refer to the engine, chassis, and gearbox, while the three major parts of a robot are reducer , servo motor , and controller.
According to data from Gaogong Robot Network, the three major pieces of robots have accounted for 70% of the total production costs, which means that only by independently manufacturing the three major pieces can it be called the name of "self-produced robots".
However, the three major parts of the robot have long been controlled by a number of Japanese companies. If China wants to produce its own robots, it must import core parts from overseas, especially Germany and Japan, that is, Germany and Japan control 70% of the production conditions of Chinese robots.
Moreover, except for these three major items, the remaining 30% of the production conditions refer to only mechanical bodies and peripherals, but most of these two items are mainly assembly and have relatively low technological content.
Such a dilemma makes the Chinese robot industry feel as if it is strangled by someone, and it is really difficult to get a relaxed development environment.
However, one thing must be emphasized is that the backwardness of China's robot industry is not blamed on my country's robot companies. This is mainly because the backwardness of my country's robot industry is actually intentional. What does this mean?
As mentioned above, the peak of my country's robots was in the 1980s, and during this period, another major event happened in my country, that is, "reform and opening up."
Under the reform and opening up policy, my country's industry has not only ushered in innovation, but also suffered from impacts from foreign companies. Many backward factories have gone bankrupt in the impact, and a large number of laid-off workers have emerged in society.
Under such a background, if China still blindly develops robots and directly applies them to major factories, it will only expand the laid-off group and turn its labor advantage into a disadvantage. Therefore, China can only "depressedly" suspend the development of robots, which has created today's backwardness.
However, with the modernization of my country's industrial system and the decline of demographic dividend, the time for "robots to enter the factory" has ripe, and the country has also begun to introduce a series of robot development policies.
believes that under such a background, China's robot industry will surely return to its peak and create a new round of glory, let's wait and see.
Reference:
"70% relies on imports, How to avoid chip-type tragedy in Chinese industrial robot ? 》----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 》------- Hardcore Panda Say (Official Account)
"This technology used by domestic robots is still "bottled" by Japan! 》---------Robot Industry-Academic Research Alliance
"History of Robot Development"------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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