The humanoid robot “Electrical Robot No. 1” released by 21 Robotics Engineering Center of China Electrical Engineering Department is provided by 21 Robotics Engineering Center of China Electrical Engineering Department

Facing the public, this “electric robot 1” demonstrated its ability to walk steadily and turn.

The discussion around humanoid robots has focused on whether they will stand the test of the market and enter the home. Jiang Zhiyong pointed out that the humanoid robot developed by China Electric Science 21 is expected to be put into the intelligent logistics production scene in the first quarter of 2024 to do application verification and find problems in the application.

In order for humanoid robots to truly go to the market, it is still necessary to continuously improve hardware equipment such as motors and drivers, and overcome problems such as motion control of humanoid robots.

The shape is full of technology, and there are occasional emergencies when performing tasks

“Electric Robot 1” is 162 cm tall, weighs 60 kg, has 39 degrees of freedom (including finger joints), the maximum load of one arm is 5 kg, the maximum load of two arms is 10 kg, and the fastest walking speed can reach 5 km/h.

From the appearance point of view, this humanoid robot design is also relatively unique, the whole is mainly silver gray, the body is marked with black as the background color and “21”, and the sense of science and technology is “full”.

Jiang Zhiyong introduced that this humanoid robot has achieved stable walking on uneven roads such as grass, gravel pavement and slopes, has initial anti-interference ability and smart operation ability, and has realized the functions of anti-kicking, anti-pushing, handling cartons, pouring water, precision operation, and can also complete smart operations such as holding water cups and moving boxes.

The 21 humanoid robot teams of the China Electronics Department plan to develop humanoid robot prototypes from the beginning of 2020. As the most complex robot at present, humanoid robots have higher requirements for visual recognition, motion control algorithms, joint coordination, etc. On the shape design alone, the team discussed for nearly a month before it was finally finalized.

However, one of the difficulties when starting the humanoid robot is to deal with various unexpected situations.

Part of the motor was developed by China Electric Science 21 Institute, and other parts were purchased, resulting in incompatibility of the entire operating system at times during startup.

“It’s hard to rule it out. A lot of times it happens accidentally, without any preparation, and [the team] doesn’t have time to deal with it.” Jiang Zhiyong said. When the team did a humanoid robot simulation test, it would “fly directly”.

There are about 40 people in the 21 humanoid robot R&D teams in China, most of which are from domestic 985/211 universities, or master’s and doctor’s degrees from foreign universities.

Humanoid robots are the most complex category of all robots, especially the goal of achieving “embodied intelligence”. Jiang Zhiyong said that from a technical point of view, there is still a certain gap between domestic enterprises and foreign companies such as Tesla and Boston Dynamics. The domestic humanoid robot research and development team needs to continue to “overcome difficulties” in the research and development process to solve the “stuck neck” technical problems. For example, how to make humanoid robots have the ability to learn independently and recognize the environment. In addition, how to let the humanoid robot in a complex environment, walk, walk steadily and can operate.

At present, the research and development team has completed the computer algorithm simulation work, and other work such as the voice module is further developed. Jiang Zhiyong told Thepaper.cn that the humanoid robot will be able to understand voice commands from humans and complete related tasks, such as pouring a glass of water.

Jiang Zhiyong said that at present, the humanoid robot still needs to be continuously debugged in actual operation.

The 21st Research Institute of China Electronics Science and Technology Group Corporation was originally established in 1963, mainly engaged in the research, development, trial production and production of various micro motors and components, which are widely used in aerospace, aviation, shipbuilding, electronics and other fields. In 2019, the institute established CEC Robotics Co., LTD., which has achieved a series of scientific research achievements in the field of robot electric joints, lightweight multi-joint robots, exoskeleton power assisted robots, quadruped robots and other intelligent equipment core components and industrial robots.

It is expected to be put into intelligent logistics application scenarios in the first quarter of next year for application verification

Previously, many respondents in the industry pointed out a common problem in an interview with Surging technology, that is, although the concept of this wave of humanoid robots was brought to fire by Tesla Optimus Optimus Prime, the humanoid robots born on the market are still in the initial stage of technology and have not yet achieved mass production.

In October this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other ministries issued the “14th Five-Year Plan” robot industry Development Plan, “humanoid robot innovation and development guidance” and other documents. It is proposed that by 2025, China’s humanoid robot innovation system will be initially established; The whole machine products reach the international advanced level, and achieve mass production; It is also proposed to improve the human-machine-environment integration interaction ability of humanoid robots to support full-scene landing applications.

With the blessing of the policy, universal humanoid robots are accelerating the exploration of the possibility of landing.

Xiaomi revealed that in the future, Xiaomi’s humanoid robots will be integrated into multiple scenarios of Xiaomi manufacturing and intelligent manufacturing to do industrial verification. Senior executives of Zhiyuan Robot company, which has attracted the attention of the capital market in China, told surging news reporters that the company’s commercialization is first aimed at intelligent manufacturing scenarios, such as the automobile manufacturing industry.

Huang Xiaoqing, chairman and CEO of Da Robotics Co., LTD., pointed out that many vertical industries can be found in the use of humanoid robots, such as the cleaning industry will have tens of millions of opportunities. In addition, there is also an opportunity for family smart elderly care.

In Jiang Zhiyong’s view, China Electric Science 21 has no plans to put this humanoid robot into the market for mass production at present, and it is expected that in the first quarter of next year, this humanoid robot will be put into the intelligent logistics production scene to do application verification, including the intelligent logistics handling, sorting and distribution functions.

What if there is an emergency in the application? Jiang Zhiyong frankly said that it is inevitable to encounter problems, and can only solve problems while implementing applications. Humanoid robots can only really be put into the application scenario, in order to further find practical application problems, so as to better solve them through technical iteration.

Jiang Zhiyong said that the development of humanoid robots currently faces two major difficulties. From the technical perspective, the motion control problem has become a major difficulty, and the motion control of humanoid robots covers many aspects, including walking and various movements in the overall operation. At present, although the motion control of humanoid robots on flat ground has been relatively mature, once faced with a real environment such as a complex road, how to walk safely is still a problem to be solved.