Rebirth 99 to become a car giant

Yangcheng Honda is a customer of Nanshan and a major customer of Yangcheng Huaqiang Factory.

Cao Yang naturally knew something about Honda cars.

In fact, Cao Yang went to find out the history of the major car companies in the world.

After all, when you have a meal with a client, if you don’t know the history of their company, sometimes it’s hard to find a topic.

But he really didn't pay much attention to Honda's robot.

"Mr. Cao, Honda Motor is actually the least serious among all the international auto giants."

"In addition to automobiles, Honda is the largest motorcycle company in the world. It not only occupies a large market share in China, but also has a very high market share in Southeast Asia."

“Then they also make speedboats, lawn mowers, snowplows, ATVs, generators and more.”

"In 2000, it officially entered the field of humanoid robots and launched the first generation of ASIMO robots."

Li Shigui is very glad that he came to participate in the exhibition in advance and get to know the exhibitors.

Otherwise, I really can't answer some questions today.

"Mr. Cao, look." When a group of people squeezed to the side of Honda's exhibition hall, Li Shigui pointed to the robot that was demonstrating its functions, and said, "This is Honda's robot, called ASIMO."

"It is estimated that this is their latest generation product."

Following Li Shigui's words, Cao Yang and others focused on the white robot on the booth.

At this time, it was naturally Mi Ying's turn to help translate the commentator's words.

"ASIMO has hip joints, knee joints and foot joints just like humans."

"Honda's engineers were 'well-intentioned' at the beginning of the project."

"They spend a lot of time studying how insects, mammals and mountain climbers move their legs."

"These studies not only help engineers better understand the fundamentals of human walking, but also provide valuable insights into the design of ASIMO."

Mi Ying's translation is very professional, and she will use whatever tone the other party uses to translate.

It won't make people feel drowsy after listening.

"For example, when humans walk, they maintain balance by moving their center of gravity and swinging their hands back and forth. These actions are also the basic principles of ASIMO walking."

"Also, the toes play a very important role in walking, they help us maintain our balance, just like ASIMO's feet."

"Moreover, ASIMO's feet are also designed similar to human soft tissue, using shock-absorbing materials to absorb the impact on the joints during walking."

"It can be said that ASIMO's walking system is based on the principle of human walking, and integrates the leg movements of insects, mammals and mountaineers, thus becoming an 'evolutionary version' of human walking."

Along with the commentary, the white robot on the stage was also walking, and waved to greet everyone.

This immediately caused quite a reaction.

Many people even spontaneously gave applause.

"Mr. Cao, it is very difficult to make ASIMO walk like a human being. It is really unbelievable that Honda's ASIMO can do this."

"In terms of humanoid robots, their technology should be industry-leading."

"However, there is still a long way to go to truly walk like a human being."

Li Shigui added his opinion in a timely manner.

"When the robot walks, it will be affected by the gravity of the earth, as well as the inertial force caused by accelerating or decelerating the travel. The sum of these forces is called the total inertial force."

Mi Ying glanced at Li Shigui and Cao Yang, and then continued to translate, "When the robot's feet touch the ground, it will be affected by the reaction force from the ground. This force is called the ground reaction force."

"In order for our ASIMO to truly walk like a human, all these forces must be balanced, and the control goal of ASIMO is to find a posture that can balance all the forces."

With the display of ASIMO, more and more people were attracted.

It seems that Honda's robot has become the first dark horse of this World Robot Conference.

"Mr. Cao, humanoid robots are the most cutting-edge research projects in the field of robotics, and the future development potential is also very large."

"Especially if a breakthrough can be made in artificial intelligence in the future, the application scenarios of humanoid robots will be even more worth looking forward to."

"The most important thing is that humanoid robots have unparalleled advantages in publicity. They can directly attract the attention of a large number of ordinary people, thereby greatly enhancing the brand power of robots."

"I don't think the robotics department will officially start the humanoid robot project in the future."

Taking this opportunity, Li Shigui proposed a new direction for the next step of development.

As the person in charge of the robotics department, he naturally hoped that the business would be as wide as possible.

"This kind of human robot is more difficult to study than industrial robots."

"Are you confident in making it out?"

Cao Yang naturally agreed with Li Shigui's proposal.

However, you can't say anything to the people below, and you should immediately agree to something, right?

So he simply took this opportunity to test Li Shigui to see what he thinks.

"Compared with industrial robots, humanoid robots are indeed more difficult."

"For example, artificial intelligence algorithms, research in this area is just beginning in all countries."

"Humanoid robots need to achieve human-like behaviors and emotions, and need complex artificial intelligence algorithms. These algorithms need to involve machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing and other fields, requiring very high technology and cost investment. "

"There will also be much higher requirements in terms of body structure. After all, humanoid robots need to have a body structure similar to that of humans, including bones, muscles, joints, etc. This requires the intersection and integration of multiple fields such as material science and robotics. .”

"Besides, humanoid robots need to be able to precisely control their own body movements to achieve human-like movements. This requires the implementation of high-precision motion control algorithms and hardware systems."

"Finally, in terms of emotion and cognition, this is a more cutting-edge research direction. Humanoid robots need to be able to perceive and understand emotions, and perform corresponding behavior and emotional responses. This needs to involve psychology, neuroscience, etc. Intersection and fusion of fields."

"Although these are difficult, as long as a qualified humanoid robot product is developed, its application scenarios are also very extensive."

With such a good opportunity to make a big deal for his boss, Li Shigui naturally used his prehistoric power to sort out and explain what he learned in his head and what he learned from researching various cutting-edge papers recently.

The way Cao Yang listened patiently also made Li Shigui realize how correct his choice to join Nanshan was.

"In which fields do you think humanoid robots have great application prospects in the future?"

Now that the assessment has started, it is natural to ask some more questions.

Cao Yang is the one who knows the answer, now look at Li Shigui's statement, compared with the answer he knows, how big is the difference.

"I think the application of humanoid robots still has a very broad future, and it can be found in all walks of life."

"For example, in the field of services, humanoid robots can provide customer service, entertainment, nursing and other services in hotels, restaurants, hospitals, banks and other places to improve user experience and service quality."

"You can also find opportunities in the field of education, such as education and teaching, science popularization and other fields, to provide students with a vivid and intuitive learning experience."

"In addition, it also has its uses in the entertainment and medical fields. For example, it can be used as performers, hosts, robot singers, etc. in entertainment venues to provide audiences with interactive entertainment experience; or for patient care and psychological counseling , surgical simulation, etc., to provide support and assistance to medical staff.”

Li Shigui gave a lot of reasons at once.

It seems that he really thought about this problem.

"Since you think that the future of humanoid robots is very broad, then let's do a good job."

Cao Yang didn't ask any more questions, and directly agreed to Li Shigui's plan.

Next, the performance of ASIMO at the Honda booth was almost over, and Cao Yang continued to look at the situation of other exhibitors.

The Flex series robots of Fujitsu.

Panasonic Vision series robots.

A repetitive task robot from Rockwell Automation, USA.

Warehousing and logistics robots from Eastern Automation, USA.

Various robots of Eaton Industrial in the United States

...

Taking advantage of the moment of the World Robot Conference, everyone has come up with their own competitive products.

It also made Cao Yang realize that there are actually many competitors in Nanshan.

It's just that in China, everyone is familiar with the few companies in Dongying plus KUKA and ABB.

In fact, there are far more companies in the world researching robot products than these. Even in some more subdivided fields, the advanced level of robots in the United States is no worse than that of Japan.

If Nanshan Robot wants to become the industry leader completely, it seems that it still needs to continue to work hard.

Now only the welding machine robot and other robots transformed around this product have become famous in the industry.

However, this afternoon, Nanshan's NS-Roboter 200 press conference is expected to further attract everyone's attention and make everyone realize that Huaxia still has such a powerful robot company.

And when Cao Yang looked at other people's top products in various exhibition halls, people from other manufacturers were also doing similar things.

"Tanaka, the attention of the media and the audience has been attracted by Honda's stage this morning."

"Although the technology of their ASIMO robot may not be much better than that of our Kawasaki Heavy Industries, but it is displayed in the form of a humanoid robot, and the impact it brings to everyone is very different."

"Especially in one of the links, it also brought a cup of coffee to the audience."

"Now on the homepage of Yahoo Japan, there are reports of their ASIMO."

"On the contrary, our robots basically don't get much attention from people. This situation is very different from everyone's expectations."

Standing in the robot exhibition hall of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ishikawa Xiongwu felt a little depressed when he saw the relatively small flow of people.

"No matter how high the level of Honda's ASIMO robot is, no matter how much attention it attracts, we don't have to worry about it."

"That's just a conceptual product, and it hasn't been launched on the market yet."

"Also, ASIMO was not designed for the production floor of a factory."

"In this case, Honda is not our competitor at all, they have always been our customers."

"Today they have attracted so much attention, and no manufacturers have jumped out to express their dissatisfaction."

"That's because no one sees it as a competitor."

Although Masao Tanaka is engaged in research and development, he sees problems very thoroughly.

No matter how strong the ASIMO technology is, everyone need not worry, envy or envy.

Just like at an auto show, no matter how much media and audience attention Ferrari and Rolls Royce attract, Chery and Geely will not care.

We are not competitors in a region at all.

Do you envy pigs that can eat and sleep, and eat when they sleep?

"That's true, fortunately, Honda's ASIMO is just a concept robot."

"However, if you want to attract everyone's attention, you still need this kind of conceptual robot."

"I think the company can launch a similar concept robot next year to attract everyone's attention."

"Maybe it can have unexpected effects when promoting our industrial robots."

Yuwu Ishikawa drew inferences from one instance, and felt that Kawasaki could learn from others tomorrow to attract a wave of traffic.

"Didn't you say that Huaxia's Nanshan robot might be today's dark horse?"

"Just passed their booth, only the various extensions of the NS-Roboter 100 series were on display."

"Although the parameters of their robot are very good, even stronger than our latest welding robot, I don't think there is any need to worry about it."

"There is only one product, there is no way to bring us too much threat."

In fact, Tanaka still looks down on Huaxia's enterprises in his heart.

I feel that it is impossible for the other party's products to really surpass Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

Even if some data is already in front of our eyes, everyone will selectively ignore it.

Especially the visit this morning confirmed his guess.

Nanshan is not as powerful as the people from FANUC and Kawasaki Huaxia branch say.

"But I heard that the robot technology exhibition they reported to the organizer was in the afternoon."

"Is it possible that they will launch new products by then?"

When Ishikawa Yutake said this, Tanaka Masao was stunned for a moment.

Does Nanshan have new products that have not been displayed?

This possibility really exists.

However, Nanshan's background in the field of robotics is so weak, even if they have any new products, it should be like that, right?

Right?