In the country's largest industrial robot production base - Midea KUKA Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Park, on the fully automatic production line of "robot production robots", robots with different functions are distributed in 13 processes, which can efficiently and accurately exercise their functions, collaborate in the production of robots below 100 kg, and a robot can be offline in an average of 30 minutes.
The robotic arm has a clear division of labor for screwing, welding, and installation, and the automatic guided vehicle transports materials in an orderly manner, and the robot lifts hundreds of kilograms of heavy objects effortlessly...... In the Kuka Intelligent Manufacturing Science and Technology Park in Shunde, Foshan, Guangdong, such a cyberpunk scene has become a reality.
Since its launch in 2019, Midea's KUKA Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Park has produced and delivered 100,000 industrial robots, making it the largest industrial robot production base in China.
Recently, the reporter came to the science and technology park and made a field visit to the fully automated robot production line.
Use R&D to leverage production capacity
On the fully automatic production line of Guangdong's first "robot production robot", robots with different functions are distributed in 13 processes, efficiently and accurately exercising their functions, and collaboratively producing robots below 100 kg.
"The production line can run 24 hours a day, and a robot can be rolled off the assembly line in an average of 30 minutes." Chen Feng, director of operations and human resources of KUKA China, told reporters that as long as the market has sufficient production capacity demand, increases investment in hardware and software, and improves collaboration efficiency, the speed of a single robot can be faster.
"Before being acquired by Midea Group, KUKA Robotics had an annual production capacity of 11,000 to 14,000 units. Now, without increasing the number of employees, the annual production capacity of the park has reached about 30,000 units. Chen Feng said that KUKA has doubled the production capacity of industrial robots, thanks to huge R&D investment and persistent pursuit of localization of core technologies. Today, more than 85% of the robot's core components are fully autonomous and controllable with us. Chen Feng said.
"In the past, KUKA exported products and technologies from Germany to China, and now, in the field of industrial robots, the two sides can be said to be equally divided in terms of product and technology output. As a kind of industrial robot, in the field of mobile robots, we have achieved ninety percent of R&D in China, and exported technology and products to Germany and the global market, becoming a new growth point for KUKA. In the view of Ma Jianliang, general manager of KUKA's mobile robot business, it is no accident that Midea and KUKA China have achieved such a transformation.
Ma Jianliang told reporters: "KUKA China has built a complete mobile robot R&D system in 2020, relying on Midea's Academia Sinica, AI Research Institute, Intelligent Manufacturing Research Institute, etc., our R&D personnel have stronger industrial synergy in the R&D process. "
"In addition to R&D efficiency advantages, we also have strong supply chain advantages and cost advantages." Ma Jianliang told reporters that since landing in Shunde in 2019, KUKA has introduced more than 85% of high-quality suppliers into the park, and core components such as motors, reducers, and body castings can be purchased in the park within 10 minutes.
"At present, the application scenarios of KUKA robots cover automobiles, lithium batteries, photovoltaics, new energy, aerospace, electronics, logistics, medical and other fields, and the supply and demand are hot." Chen Feng said.
Enterprises and regional development to achieve "two-way running"
Not long ago, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the first batch of enterprises that meet the conditions of the new version of the industrial robot industry specification, a total of 36 enterprises were selected across the country, and there are 3 in Foshan, and KUKA is one of them.
As early as 2023, Foshan proposed: to achieve industrial doubling in 3 years, and to build a 100 billion robot industry cluster by 2025. As Foshan's "100 billion town", Beijiao Town, Shunde District, has risen to become an important robot industry base in China in recent years through policy guidance, industrial chain agglomeration and industry-university-research collaboration.
In order to let the talents and employees of the landed enterprises have a head start in their work and a sense of belonging in their lives, Foshan has successively introduced a series of policies to help the development of enterprises and regional development achieve two-way running. "We actively implement the talent policy of Foshan City, and if we meet the conditions, we will give a monthly rental subsidy of 750 yuan to talents with master's and intermediate titles, with a maximum subsidy of 36 months; 20, 300,000 yuan of housing subsidies will be given to doctoral and associate senior professional titles, postdoctoral and senior professional titles; A house purchase subsidy of no less than 600,000 yuan will be given to leading talents and young reserve talents. The relevant person in charge of Shunde District introduced.
In 2023, Foshan will further strengthen its talent services and issue the "Measures for the Management of Youyue Foshan Card Services" to provide qualified talents with services such as talent subsidy application, personnel files, medical registration, and preferential consumption. And set up a number of talent service workstations to open up the "last mile" of service talents.
Since the park landed in Shunde in 2019, with the policy support of Foshan City and Shunde District, KUKA has actively participated in major projects in Foshan based on the industry, continuously increased product research and development efforts, and increased production capacity. By the end of 2024, a total of 100,000 industrial robots will be produced and delivered, with an output value of more than 15 billion yuan.
AI and other technologies empower the production of industrial robots
"There can not even be a deviation of 0.01 mm", which is the accuracy requirement for the installation process of the reducer in the production and manufacturing process of industrial robots. In front of the display scene of the process, Chen Feng told reporters that the application of AI technology is very important for the intelligent production of robots in the future, and it is also the trend of the times.
"After applying AI vision and automatic programming, the robot will automatically accurately install the reducer into the casting of the robot body, which is not only more accurate than manual operation, but also greatly improves production capacity and efficiency." Chen Feng said.
At present, KUKA has cooperated with NVIDIA, DeepSeek and others to accelerate the application of AI technology in the intelligent production of robots. "We will integrate AI technology into every process and every link to achieve a higher level of intelligence." Chen Feng said.
Ma Jianliang was responsible for the research and development of artificial intelligence technology at the Central Research Institute of Midea Group, and he and his team are currently accelerating the application of embodied intelligence technology in the field of mobile robots.
"The mobile robot we developed has more than 7 sensor devices to give it sufficient perception, powerful algorithms to support its thinking and decision-making ability, and advanced electrical and power components to improve its ability to act." Ma Jianliang said that in the future, mobile robots with the support of mature embodied intelligence technology will have stronger flexibility and autonomy, and can be applied to more real-world scenarios. After this technology is widely used and forms a large-scale effect, the robot production intelligent factory is expected to transform into a more sci-fi and futuristic embodied factory form.
"The development of AI and other technologies will replace some of the original jobs, and at the same time, some new jobs will be derived." Ma Jianliang said that the process of integrating AI and other technologies with robot intelligent manufacturing has put forward new requirements for skilled workers on the production line.
Ma Jianliang told reporters: "In the future, the production line will test the ability of skilled workers to maintain the robot, the ability to collaborate with the robot, and the ability to help the robot further derive iteration." At present, KUKA China has cooperated with major vocational colleges in China to carry out the integrated training of production, education and research, and accelerate the construction of a team of skilled workers who can adapt to the new forms and scenarios of robot intelligent manufacturing. "