Looking back at 2017, although the overall technological field ushered in a big explosion, there is no doubt that the most eye-catching is still the advancing artificial intelligence. Driven by technological breakthroughs, market warming, and policy implementation, capital forces have poured into the field of artificial intelligence. The world’s major technology companies continue to increase investment and compete to strengthen their overall layout. In 2017, artificial intelligence is under the aura. Very dazzling.

　　Intelligent robots are the masters of artificial intelligence hardware. The sub-field of applied robots is advancing bravely, from education to commercial use, multi-scene layout, and what kind of business logic is behind the raging industry?

　　Intelligent robot: It is not so much fighting artificial intelligence as it is a test of mechanization ability

　　 Just like every hot industry, the mud and sand are bound to be mixed, and there are too many people who want to fill up the numbers.

　　 For start-up companies, entering the field of artificial intelligence robots is more likely to be favored by investors than in other fields.

For listed companies, the first stage and the second stage of artificial intelligence robots are currently being merged. The pure concept of robots and pure concept hype are all flying in the sky. A robot that does business in a down-to-earth manner, and a conveyor belt. It’s obvious that the rise of the robots is the same.

　　 Specifically, the main problem in the artificial intelligence robot industry is: serious assembly and innovative innovation.

　　 Artificial intelligence robots are mainly divided into two parts, one part is software, that is, AI system, and the interaction mode of this part is mainly voice and picture interaction. For many companies that are in the air, they do not have the ability to independently develop speech recognition. At this time, they generally use the technology of specialized speech recognition companies such as iFLYTEK.

　　 Unlike the smart speaker industry, the technical requirements of the speaker industry are not high. The hardware level of the robotics industry is extremely demanding. In terms of hardware, behind the boom in China's smart robots, there are major "shortcomings" in upstream high-end material research and development and core component manufacturing. Intelligent robot manufacturing is extremely complicated. From a small bearing, screw manufacturing to high-end smart chips, artificial intelligence algorithm development, it requires long-term bit by bit technology and industrial accumulation.

　　In the author's opinion: "The most important thing for the future development of China's intelligent robot industry is to continue to promote the development of China's real economy and create a more favorable environment for the development of manufacturing, so as to nurture top international manufacturing companies."

The hardware part of artificial intelligence robots is not simple at all. For example, finger automation, grasping objects like humans, is extremely technically difficult. If artificial intelligence robots cannot automate finger joints, it will be difficult to apply to specific scenarios. , Can only be regarded as a self-healing toy.

In a short period of time, it is not easy for China to achieve this. In the final analysis, the level of industrialization is lagging behind. Domestic hardware engineers are severely lacking. Domestically, there are a huge number of software engineers. When it comes to hardware, it is comparable to advanced manufacturing countries such as the United States, Japan, and Germany. In comparison, there is a big gap.

　　 Therefore, in terms of artificial intelligence robots and software, it is of little significance to compete among companies. Many companies come from the technology of a company, and the final competition is the intelligent manufacturing ability of robots.

　　The intelligent robot industry in full swing is not so much fighting artificial intelligence as it is a test of the mechanization ability and intelligent manufacturing level of enterprises.

　　The undercurrent of educational robots: policy ceiling guides industry trends

　　 At present, the landing scenes of intelligent robots are mainly in two industries, one is the education market, and the other is the commercial field. In this part, we will analyze the artificial intelligence robots in the education scene.

　　 According to data released by the China Robot Education Alliance in 2016, there are already about 7,600 robot education institutions nationwide, which has increased by nearly 15 times in the past five years. This year, this number will only increase on its own. With the "National Medium and Long-term Educational Reform and Development Plan Outline (2010-2020)" taking innovation as the highlight, robot education has gradually entered primary and secondary schools and children's palaces. At the same time, the "China Quality Sports Robot Sports General Competition Rules" was officially promulgated, various competitions on robots have been endorsed by regulations, and the industry has entered a fast lane.

Quality education has been called for many years. As early as when the author was in elementary school, that is, in the late 1990s, the country was promoting quality education. Now with the improvement of the country's comprehensive strength, in many first- and second-tier cities, extracurricular art tutoring classes are becoming more advanced. The high-tech textbooks have also entered the classroom, and the era of quality education has come in full swing. This artificial intelligence robot industry provides a good soil for the development of the education scene.

Artificial intelligence robots can take root in education. On the one hand, they cater to quality education and cultivate children's hands-on ability. On the other hand, if robots want to fully explode, they need to be completely linked to education. Educational link. Recently, the Ministry of Education issued new regulations to adjust the registration conditions for independent enrollment, leaving only two categories of subject expertise and innovation potential, and the gold content of various robot competitions has further increased.

　　 In this way, many parents began to report to their children robot classes with keywords such as competitions, specialties, and extra points, which eventually led to parents' enthusiasm for K12 science and technology education much higher than college students' enthusiasm for participating in science and technology competitions. Robot education is booming like the Olympiad.

　　 In China, there are excellent and must-chosen Jimu robots, Makeblock, etc. holding the banner of programming robots.

　　 In the scene of artificial intelligence robot education, intelligent robots are also facing an awkward situation. If robots want to be linked to exam-oriented education, the most likely test basis should be programming. Robot assembly or robot competitions are not good. If it is more than programming ability, then its essence is not directly related to the robot, and it returns to the software part.

　　 In addition, intelligent robots have landed in the education scene, and the policy dependence is too high. If they are not linked to the entrance examination, it will be difficult to make a big improvement and can only be reduced to a toy under the guise of teaching. At that time, it can only be like a meteor. For a while, Xuhe will soon fall, and the entire educational robot industry will enter a period of silence.

　　Commercial robots are in full swing: Opportunities and challenges in the enterprise service-level market

　　 Another landing scene of artificial intelligence robots is mainly a commercial scene. After recognizing the pseudo-prosperity of the 2C market relying on subsidies to fight the conversion rate, in recent years, more and more capitals have begun to turn their eyes to the more valuable and less developed 2B market. The business model is far from the prosperity of the TOB market, and the service scenarios of enterprises also show diversified service extensions. From the sasa system to the "cloud" of the giant layout, the software data direction is enchanting at home and abroad. With the upgrading of corporate services, soft The hardened integrated artificial intelligence robot has gradually become a new partner in the enterprise service market.

Artificial intelligence robots are a complex of various technologies. All kinds of enterprise office service software are only basic applications of big data. As the crystallization of software and hardware integration, robots should become a higher dimension of enterprise services. For service robots, countries and related The group also paid attention. For example, the China Robot Industry Alliance, not long ago, announced that it would publish 3 alliance standards and 17 Robot Industry Alliance standards. Judging from all these signs, in the foreseeable future, the prospect of service robots is extremely impressive.

With rising prices and rising living costs, workers’ wages have also risen accordingly, especially in first-tier cities. What is even more terrible is that after the increase in wage levels, it will not drop, and labor costs will only get higher and higher. Therefore, enterprises To reduce operating costs, commercial service robots will undoubtedly play a key role.

　　Nuo's large enterprise service-level market was previously mainly concentrated in the software field. Today, the advent of commercial robots has expanded the boundaries of the enterprise service-level market, but at the same time, commercial artificial intelligence robots are also facing considerable challenges.

　　 First of all, the price threshold is too high. The increase in labor costs is an indisputable fact. The replacement of labor by machines does save labor costs on the surface, but it adds a new cost-robot costs. Let’s take a small restaurant as an example. In first- and second-tier cities, the monthly salary of the food delivery staff in the store is between 3,000 yuan and 3500 yuan, but many commercial robot companies can basically customize this product for use in restaurants, but the price is at least Above 50,000 yuan, and the basic price of a machine exceeds the salary of a food delivery person for one year. Considering the use time of the robot and the cost of failure and maintenance, the robot has not reduced labor costs. In addition, robots are depreciated. Coupled with Moore's Law, the first batch of restaurants to introduce robots may not take advantage of it. It is better to wait and see.

　　 Another threshold restricting the development of commercial robots is human-computer interaction.

　　 The most critical technology of commercial robots is "intelligent voice". If we cannot give robots the ability to speak, in the eyes of consumers, robots are not intelligent.

　　At present, I have seen various commercial robots in banks and commercial homes. When people actually come into contact with these robots, they will find that the voice function of these robots is not up to the point where they can communicate with you normally. Especially in some noisy public places such as shopping malls, the voice system of the robot will disappoint you.

　　 In the laboratory test, the robot's voice system meets the requirements of interaction, and the accuracy of voice recognition is above 90%. However, once the customer signs for it, it is applied to public places as "chicken and duck talk", which makes many robot companies very distressed.

　　 This technology is called remote dynamic microphone array pickup technology in the industry, and the domestic robot industry is not mature in this application.

　　 Behind the technical pain points is the strength of enterprise R&D and technological innovation.

At present, the homogeneity of appearance and function of commercial robots on the market is more serious. One is the lack of core technology, and the product only relies on the concept of patchwork; the other is that it deviates from the market orientation and does not start from user experience and application scenarios. Do design planning.

　　Commercial robots are not only intelligent hardware, but also comprehensive technical solutions. It needs to open up more customization freedom for different consumption scenarios of industry customers, and carry some corporate values. Solve practical problems for traditional government and enterprise industries, create more value and even bring revolutionary user experience.

　　 The smart robots on the tuyere seem to be glamorous, but the reef is surging. Where will the road to promotion go down? Whether 2018 will usher in a big breakthrough remains to be seen.