The monthly magazine for the robotics and automation industry Issue 11 March 2018 Japan robot sales Big growth in demand from China is benefiting Japanese robot makers
Terms of digitalisation Everything we know about digital manufacturing in one article
Industrial robotics Kuka buys virtual factory software designer Visual Components
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companies I t ration Integr ti & Proce ess Cogn nex No matter what the vision application, machine Cognex offers a complete family of vision products—from — standalone vision systeems to 3D vision software— that p provide unparalleled accuracy and repeatability. cognex.com
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Bewildered and confused Sensor Readings
Abdul Montaqim Editor
T
echnology is moving so fast that those of us who have been around a while may find a lot of things bewildering and confusing. Why, for example, do so many websites and apps that you never heard of have so many visitors and users? Why are startup companies whose product or service you don’t understand attracting tens of millions of dollars in investment money? This state of mind, this disorientation, will only get worse unless we embrace a number of apparent truths. One is that society always changes and technology changes the most, and technology is changing at an ever-faster rate. Additionally, we have to accept that there are many technological solutions looking for problems. In other words, scientists and technologists often make interesting discoveries or develop sophisticated products and services but they have little or no idea how or where they can be applied. What makes things even more difficult is many people’s propensity to use indecipherable jargon, and the computer technology sector is probably the biggest culprit here. Anything and everything can be converted to an acronym, and very often, the people using the acronyms don’t bother explaining at any point what the acronyms stand for. This is something that makes it difficult for journalists and people who aren’t experts in a given field to quickly understand what is being discussed. Some people obfuscate deliberately, but most people use jargon because there isn’t any other way to explain the details of what are often entirely new technologies. This is why glossaries are important, and that is why we produced an article listing as many of the terms as we can find about digital manufacturing. Digitalisation is probably the biggest trend in manufacturing since the Industrial Age. All this talk of Industry 4.0 and various related things need to be understood by as a wide a group of people as possible because many of those people may end up developing perfect solutions to industry problems. And they can’t do that if they don’t understand what the problem is in the first place. It’s inevitable that jargon will continue to exist, but all we are saying is, give people a chance. l
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Editorial
Contents
A digital manufacturing glossary A digital scene of increasing complexity Urban mobility Why car sharing is set to take off in China
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Kuka buys 3D software designer
Japan’s robot sales rise 34 percent Marketplace
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obotics and Automation News has been selected as a media partner for the world’s leading industrial trade fair, Hannover Messe. This is the second year in a row our website has been chosen as a media partner, and to celebrate, we are giving away full-week entrance tickets to the event worth almost $100 to all existing and new subscribers. Existing subscribers will be notified by email within the next few days and do not need to create a new subscription. New subscribers will also be notified by email within 24 hours of signing up to our monthly or yearly packages. Instructions on how to claim your ticket, along with the link, will be in the email. And, as always, we’ll bring you our usual, independent, unbiased coverage of the industrial sector on our completely fair and balanced website. So, stay tuned.
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Kuka buys 3D software designer Visual Components
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ndustrial robot maker Kuka has acquired Visual Components, a provider of 3D, gamelike computer-generated factory design and industrial robot simulation software. Kuka says the acquisition “defines the next level in intelligent automation”. Visual Components specializes in software solutions for 3D simulation in factory planning. Visual Components’ simulation software will be added to the Kuka product portfolio and is an important element in designing the “factory of the future”, says Kuka, which itself was acquired by Midea last year. The software from Visual Components is currently used worldwide for planning and decision-making processes, and contains many virtual models of industrial robots from different manufacturers. Finland-based Visual Components is said by Kuka to offer “easy-to-use products and open architecture”, which “set standards in
the visualization and simulation of complete production processes”. Dr Till Reuter, CEO of Kuka, says: “3D simulation is an important element in the design of the factory of the future. Visual Components offers innovative solutions in this field.” Kuka says the Visual Components simulation tool is an important milestone with “great potential” for solutions in Kuka’s simulation ecosystem. The company says simulation is one of the “key elements” for technological innovations such as artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, cloud technology and the internet of things. Juha Renfors, CEO and founder of Visual Components, says: “Visual Components and Kuka have been working together successfully for many years. “We have found a strong and reliable partner for continued international growth.” www.roboticsandautomationnews.com
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Japanese industrial robot sales increase by 34 per cent on strong demand from China
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he Chinese government may be encouraging domestic companies to develop more advanced technologies, but for now, the country’s manufacturers are turning to established industrial robot manufacturers abroad. Japan, being one of the leading industrial robot manufacturing nations in the world, is expecting a 10 per cent increase in orders over the course of this year, according to figures released by the Japan Robot Association. Jara’s latest data covers the period from October to December 2017, and show that the country’s industrial robot makers produced a total of 53,918 units, which is valued at about $1.7 billion. The previous year’s figures for the same quarter were 40,139 unit sales and approximately $1.3 billion. That works out to a percentage increase of about 31 per cent in the quarter at the end of 2017 when compared with the quarter at the end of 2016. The increase is said by Nikkei, the Japanese financial news website, to be largely due to everincreasing demand from China.
Biggest importer China is currently the world’s biggest importer of robots, and it seems likely to remain so over the next year or two at least, until perhaps domestic production starts to make a significant impact on the numbers. But, of course, China is not the only country that buys industrial robots, and Japan may see a significant demand from Europe and North America as the economies there grow and the governments introduce measures to strengthen their manufacturing bases. In fact, the vast majority of industrial robots Japan produces seem to be going to customers outside the country, with shipments to the US, in particular, staying strong.
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Jara calculates total exports of industrial robots from Japan to be 42,263 units, with a total dollar value of about $1.3 billion in the last quarter of 2017. In the same quarter, domestic shipments were said to number 10,429 units, valued at $460 million. So, Japanese industrial robot makers appear to export three times as many units as they supply to domestic customers. Looking at the final quarter of 2016, the ratio is almost the same: 32,792 units exported at a value of almost $1 billion. In percentage terms, that’s an increase in exports in the final quarter of 2017 of around 30 per cent, compared with the same quarter in 2016, obviously. Jara is more precise, calculating the increase in exports to be 28.9 per cent. Domestic shipments in the final quarter of 2016 were said to be 8,565 units, valued at $359 million – a year-on-year increase of 21.8 per cent, says Jara. Total unit shipments for October to December
Japanese industrial robot makers appear to export three times as many units as they supply to domestic customers.
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increased in 2017 by 34.3 per cent, and revenue increased by 30.5 per cent, says Jara.
Types in demand In terms of the types of robots the market is demanding, Jara reports that the biggest increase was seen in the category of painting robots. In the period from October to December 2017, almost 60 per cent more robots in the painting category were sold, although the actual number of units were relatively small: 78 units shipped to domestic customers, and 524 exported – 602 in total. The category with the largest number of industrial sold in the final quarter of 2017 was material handling, with 15,755 units sold in total – a3,569 exported, and 2,186 sold locally. The percentage growth in demand for material handling robots for the final quarter of 2017 compared with the same quarter last year was 19.4 per cent. Although big names like Fanuc and Yaskawa Motoman are shipping large numbers of robots to the US, it is the Chinese market everyone is watching, not least because of the country’s increasing capacity of production of the robots themselves, and because it’s much closer geographically. www.roboticsandautomationnews.com
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Digital manufacturing
A digital scene of increasing complexity Digital manufacturing: An exploration of the many facets of digitalisation in manufacturing
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igitalisation is, in essence, simple. It means exactly what the word implies – the digitalisation of everything. But as simple as it sounds, digitalisation can be applied to any business in any sector, and that is what makes it difficult to provide a simple overview. If we stick to one sector – manufacturing – that might make it more manageable. But since manufacturing is already a hugely complex endeavour, the process of digitalisation – even in this one single sector – encompasses so many different disciplines that it’s difficult to think of it as being, essentially, simple. But enough complaining about having to do some work for a change, let’s get on with the show. In this article, we will try and bring together as many of editorial@roboticsandautomationnews.com
the facets of digitalisation in manufacturing as we can, in order to provide as complete an overview of the entire digital manufacturing landscape as possible. We’ll probably fail miserably, or heroically, depending on your point of view, but it’s definitely worth a try since digital manufacturing is, actually, very interesting.
Fake it ’til you make it First, let’s list a few definitions of some of the jargon used in digital manufacturing. But even before that, let’s deal with the difference between digitisation and digitalisation. Basically, there isn’t any difference between the two. The reason why digitalisation – with the al in the middle – became more commonly used is probably because when it was first discussed and debated, the people who talked about it mostly used that version rather than the shorter one, and it just caught on from there. But if we want to be finicky, we could say that www.roboticsandautomationnews.com
Digital manufacturing
Features electrification; and the third was when computing technology was introduced, although it was mostly used in isolated work cells; the fourth – or Industry 4.0 – is the process of connecting machines to larger computer networks. Industry 4.0 does not really refer to a specific technological process as such in the way digitalisation does – it refers to a time period in which certain things are happening. A term like “Industry 4.0 standards” could be used to mean “up to date” with current industrial technologies, specifically connectivity. Connectivity – as in, connecting industrial machines to sensors which are, in turn, connected to a computer network – is critical to digitalisation, and we’ll look at connectivity technologies later on, but let’s not overcomplicate things now. There’ll be plenty of time for confusion. Digital jargon Now that we have some of the broader, contextual definitions in place, let’s see what’s left of digitalisation to explain. There are many different facets of digitalisation, with terminologies and jargon referring to each one, and we’ve listed as many of them as we could find below, along with a brief explanation of each.
digitisation is the simple process of digitising something like, say, a component or part, perhaps on one isolated, unconnected computer, while digitalisation is the process of digitising entire operations and businesses – from individual components, through factories, to everything else, all of which are connected on a computer network of some sort. However, it’s probably not necessary to distinguish between the two, since, as words, they both mean exactly the same thing. It’s probably worth pointing out, though, that digitisation is probably more commonly used outside Germany, which seems to have taken a lead in articulating many of the trends people in the manufacturing sector talk about today – digitalisation and Industry 4.0, for example. Industry 4.0 is sometimes used interchangeably with digitalisation, but strictly speaking, Industry 4.0 is a term that describes a historical phase – as in, the fourth industrial revolution, in which everything is being connected to the internet, which is something that hasn’t happened before, or wasn’t as widespread. The logic is that the first industrial revolution was brought about by steam power; then, the second was about
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Industry 4.0 does not really refer to a specific technological process as such in the way digitalisation does – it refers to a time period in which certain things are happening.
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Digital manufacturing jargon includes: digitisation: as explained above, this is essentially the same as digitalisation, but in this article, we’ve decided to use it as a component of the broader process of digitalisation;
digital thread: often described as referring to a communication framework which connects all the different departments and individuals who work on a product or component; in the past, many of these departments and individuals may have worked in isolation or disconnected from each other; a digital thread could theoretically connect research and development to manufacturing, and manufacturing to logistics, and everything else to everyone in the business; it could even include the customer feedback, which may be used to the modify or improve the product or process in the future; brings to mind the old phrase, “How long is a piece of string?”; connecting everything to everyone is probably unnecessary and might be a bad idea when trade secrets are involved, so the critical questions to answer then becomes, “Who needs what information and when do they need it?”;
digital twin: while digital thread refers to the process of developing and manufacturing a product, digital twin refers to the product itself; obviously, we’re talking about a digital version of a complete product or its individual components; and it doesn’t have to be exclusive to discrete – or product – manufacturing, it can also apply to continuous manufacturing – such as oil, gas, chemicals and so on – particularly as new, composite www.roboticsandautomationnews.com
Features modern materials are being developed; but mostly it’s a term used in discrete manufacturing, where a digital twin can include all the data relating to a material, component, and assembled product – its dimensions and geometries, how it looks, how it behaves, according to real-world physics and so on;
digital product definition: used interchangeably with model-based definition, digital product definition refers to the practice of including all the data about a product in one place; so, for example, if you have a virtual model of a smartphone on your computer, it would include all of the data relating to the smartphone as a product – from the dimensions and materials used in the enclosures to the processors and software used for the operation system, and everything in-between; it can be the same as the digital twin, but digital product definitions tend to include only high-level data, excluding data which is less relevant to the people dealing with it at that stage; so, for example, while the materials and components might all be named, the physics of how they behave under a variety of conditions might not be included; however, the level and depth of data available depends on each company’s requirements; digital factory: increasingly these days, companies are designing robotic work cells and and even entire digital factories inside a computer, and getting them just as they want them, before starting actual, real-world physical construction and set-up; the level of detail that can be included in a digital factory designed inside a computer is quite amazing, with virtual humans and robots and all kinds of machinery and conveyors available to systems designers; it follows, then, that that digital factory inside your computer could be used to simulate the manufacturing process of that plant, and could be continually used – even after physical construction of the facility – to monitor and manage the actual facility, using sensors connected to the machinery and everything else, including the human workers if required;
digital manufacturing: by now, you’ve probably realised that there are some overlaps between the various terms, and digital manufacturing has some overlap with all of them for obvious reasons; but in simple terms, digital manufacturing refers to the utilisation of computer technology in every aspect of manufacturing, from development through to production; it’s probably possible to find manufacturers that still use pencil and paper to design and develop products which then go straight into manufacture – without any computers involved anywhere – but it’s probably not very common; but digital manufacturing does imply a much higher level of computer technology – possibly for everything, from one end to the other; however, obviously we are still talking about manufacturing of a physical product at the end of the day, rather than just virtual products, like those you might find in a computer game;
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Digital manufacturing digital model: this could probably be said to be the same as the digital product definition term, although it could imply less detail; a digital model may not necessarily contain any data about physics, but then again, since digital models tend to be ready to use in additive or subtractive manufacturing processes, the digital model tends to contain data such as correct dimensions and geometries at least;
digital prototype: this is similar to the digital model, except that whereas a digital model tends to refer to a virtual object that is ready for manufacturing, a digital prototype is used more for internal discussion and development in preparation for finalising a digital model or a digital product definition; obviously, a digital prototype can be the equivalent of an initial sketch or as complex as the finished product itself – just depends on what stage it’s at; and, of course, it can be accessed by different departments – from research and development to sales and maketing, and manufacturing in-between – but that also depends on who the company thinks should be given access to the data;
digital automation: probably a less well-known or used term, but could be said to refer to the part of the manufacturing process which deals with automation technologies, such as robots; as manufacturers look for ways to increase automation in their processes, this aspect of digitalisation is likely to become more important; however, automation is probably inherent in every stage of planning – meaning, the whole digital manufacturing trend is aimed at achieving higher levels of automation, which usually result in higher productivity and greater efficiencies;
digital control: this is more involving than it sounds, since it tends to refer to the computer hardware used to control machinery and, increasingly, data; so, for example, you could have what are called “edge” devices – essentially small computing devices – which might have one single function, such as operate a piece of equipment; a digital control system could also take the form of a desktop computer or even a cluster of cloud computers, configured to act as one controller for an entire operation; the level of autonomy, or parameters of control, would depend obviously on how the digital control system is configured;
digital transformation: this is probably self-explanatory, and refers to the transition from traditional manufacturing processes to computerised, digital processes, whether it be swapping pencil and paper for a computer in the design
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Digital manufacturing
department, or the attaching of sensors to previously isolated machines and equipment and connecting them to a network, which can then be monitored on computers both at a high level and at a minute, machine level, or “granular” level, as some might say.
There are probably many other glossaries worth looking at if you want to learn more about the phrases used in manufacturing these days, including one published by the US government under the title Glossary of Advanced Manufacturing Terms. However, we thought we’d pick out the ones that used the word “digital” since it’s the word that connects everything in the digitalised world, and is specific to this article.
Terms of relativity If you do look at other glossaries, you will see that there are many other terms which may not use the word “digital” but which necessitate the digital aspect. Perhaps you’ve heard of many or all of them, and know what they mean. But since we’re on a list-making binge today, we thought we’d mention some of them Terms related to digitalisation and digital manufacturing mass customisation: some call this “product of one”, meaning that, at some point in the future, digital
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manufacturing will become so responsive to customer requirements that it would be capable of making a one-off product for each and every one its many customers through being able to customise each product for each individual customer; at the moment, a manufacturer may offer a limited or broad range of colours or functions for one particular product, but in the era of mass customisation, there may be as many variations of that one product as there are customers for it; how this can be achieved – let alone whether it’s a good idea – is still being debated, but many people say additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, advanced robotics, and perhaps materials science hold the keys to mass customisation; cyber-physical systems: this could, for example, refer to a factory which has been designed in a virtual environment – as outlined in the digital factory definition above – and takes account of all the humans and machines involved in the process; some people point to collaborative robots as a good example of a cyberphysical system because a human would be working closely with that machine; the word cyber may bring to mind cyber security, but on its own, “cyber” relates to computers; so, a cyber-physical system is one where a computerised, or digitalised, production process includes human participation; it could also be seen as a combination of computers and moving machines… without humans;
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Features advanced manufacturing: this is a catch-all term referring to all of the new technologies being used in manufacturing now, as well as the ones being developed for the sector; most people consider 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, to be an example of an advanced manufacturing technology; 3D printing is a good fit for this term since not only is it already in use, the technology is still developing, and holds the promise of much more; as mentioned earlier, mass customisation would be possible through 3D printing; materials science has become particularly interesting of late because most 3D printers can only deal with plastics, really expensive ones used in industry can deal with metals, but what’s probably most appropriate is a new generation of composite materials; materials science too will see many advances through the use of virtual materials, with accurate physics, which can be mixed together and tested – all in a virtual simulation environment – before being produced and used in components or anything else;
smart factory: another term which may be considered to be similar or the same as digital factory; but perhaps whereas a digital factory, on balance, refers more to the properties of a factory, smart factory may be seen to be about the process, or the state of a factory; in other words, a digital factory is about the factory as a production facility, smart factory is about the factory as a production process; however, that’s just our view – the two terms are often used in similar contexts, and some even use smart factory interchangeably with Industry 4.0; smart manufacturing: if you thought distinguishing between smart factory and digital factory was a somewhat convoluted process, try separating smart manufacturing from smart factory; but saying that smart manufacturing can refer to a chain of integrated factories whereas smart factory refers to just one facility might be a good start; but smart manufacturing is also a term that is used interchangeably with Industry 4.0 to mean the whole trend of connecting machines up to the computer network, digitalising everything and using advanced manufacturing technologies and processes;
Industry 4.0: probably enough said about this term, but just for the record, it’s a useful and interesting term; it articulates a standard without actually being an official standard in the technical sense; and rather than it being an unreachable aspiration, it simply refers to getting machines online and extracting data from them so you can see how they’re operating, which isn’t all that difficult, and by all accounts has a lot of commercial benefits.
Where were we? While many readers of this website will be experts in these things, and perhaps this article hasn’t enlightened them any further, but there are some of us who are new to the area and appreciate simple explanations of basic technologies and concepts. editorial@roboticsandautomationnews.com
Digital manufacturing Also, there are other areas which relate to digital manufacturing which might not be obvious to those of us who aren’t engineers, or involved in manufacturing, and it’s probably worth pointing some of them out.
materials science: as suggested in the 3D printing outline earlier, materials science holds the promise of an entirely new way of making products; it may not be quite as advanced as the magic microwave on the old Star Trek TV show, but current advances in the field certainly put us on the journey to that shop that sells those microwaves at the very least; we’ll try and look deeper into this subject, especially since a lot of readers visited the article we published recently about graphene;
data science: these days, it seems every other person is a data scientist, which is lucky for the manufacturing sector since a lot of new types of data are being generated by newly connected machines; and while some obvious applications of that data have been found, there are many that can probably only be discovered or unlocked by data scientists in combination with computer programmers who know how to develop artificial intelligence software, using big data as their raw materials;
additive manufacturing: it’s been implicitly explained earlier in this article, but additive manufacturing is used interchangeably with 3D printing; “additive” refers to the fact that, in 3D printing, material is added, layer by layer, to build an object, whereas the traditional process is “subtractive”, in that it starts with a piece of material and takes away bits of it to leave behind the shape and object that was required; this is something probably most readers know about;
software engineering: this is another familiar term, since it’s been a long time since Google and Apple took over the world; but it’s likely that software engineers will become much more important to the manufacturing sector because of digitalisation;
systems engineering: an interesting area which may be something that grows in importance as everything becomes simultaneously more complex and more interconnected; like a smartphone or any computer, which has so many hardware and software systems all working together, the digital manufacturing process also features many systems and sub-systems working together; this may increasingly require more systems engineers, not just for designing individual products and facilities, but the entire process, across many factories in many countries, especially as the internet of things connects everything up.
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Through digitalisation it is possible to micro-manage a business; it is also possible to see a global, high-level picture of an operation so you can make better-informed decisions. www.roboticsandautomationnews.com
Digital manufacturing
Delegating everything to the machines The origins of the phrase “digitalisation” are lost in the mists of time, but most likely, it was first articulated in Germany, where the term Industry 4.0 comes from. The process of digitalisation, or computerisation, was already ongoing globally, so it wasn’t that the process was entirely new, it’s just that no-one was so idle that they had time dream up names for these things. Is there are a point to giving them names? Maybe. It certainly clarifies the concept and enables the discussion of what can be a complex topic to be understood by a wider variety of people, many of whom might be directly involved in manufacturing, which would probably result in a better understanding of the products and services required, and a shared sense of direction and goals. Ultimately, digitalisation has enabled, and is continuing to enable, the manufacturing sector to become more efficient and productive. Through digitalisation it is possible to micro-manage a business; it is also possible to see a global, high-level picture of an operation so you can make better-informed decisions on a macro scale. Some companies have gone quite far down that route, but there are many more which are on the way. Within this framework of digitalisation, there are many tools already available and many more being developed. Already in existence are applications in the following categories: l product lifecycle management; l enterprise resource planning; editorial@roboticsandautomationnews.com
Features l manufacturing execution systems; l computer-aided design; l computer-aided engineering; l computer-aided manufacturing; and l many others. And these are distinct from other software categories that are also already available, but which perhaps some manufacturing businesses may not have used as much in the past. For example, network management software might become a standard component in a manufacturing company’s information technology requirements. And given that the physical movement of an object in three-dimensional space in the real world generates a colossal amount of data, it follows that the amount of computer storage and processing power that the manufacturing sector will need will far exceed that of, say, the software development sector. Even a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game played by millions of people over the course of, say, a year probably generates less data that one single, large, fully digital manufacturing company would in that same time period, especially if its customer or product usage data circles back to the research and development department, which might be using supercomputers or cloud clusters to simulate iterations of a large range of components and assemblies. If digitalisation, or digital manufacturing, is to work, is to function properly, it probably will require faster, more reliable data networks as standard, which likely means some type of network monitoring software will be standard in most production processes, even if it’s one acquired by an individual manufacturer in the form of software-as-a-service, or a managed service. Network management software generally sends alerts to let you know that something is amiss or needs your attention. You can choose to deal with it manually, or maybe set up some parameters within an automated process to which you can delegate some of your decisionmaking. The next step is obvious: the machines take over the world. With a variety of companies developing artificial intelligence systems, using machine learning and deep learning methods to train their computer models, it’s inevitable that we will find more examples of fully automated digital manufacturing processes. And not just automated through a computer, but also managed in an optimal way through an AI digital manufacturing manager of sorts – perhaps using the parameter-based automation example outlined above in the network monitoring example. Here, robotic process automation and business process automation applications – many of which integrate AI – also come to mind. The Star Trek microwave may be a long way into the future, but it will be an interesting journey getting there. l www.roboticsandautomationnews.com
Features
Urban mobility
Why car sharing is set to take off in China Urban mobility: China’s dominating chauffer companies, Didi and Uber China, merged in 2016, wrapping up a history of fierce competition for the city-mobility market. The two are now left with a huge shared customer pool that knows a lot about their choices for mobility. The new phase being ushered in is car sharing, which is poised for explosive growth across China. In this article Klaus Schmitz (pictured), of consultancy Arthur D. Little, examines the market dynamics and the major hurdles, and makes predictions for the future of the Chinese car-sharing scene.
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Urban mobility
C
Public need and government incentives push growth of car sharing ar sharing is short-time car rental, usually charged by the hour, whose target customers make occasional use of a vehicle or use it for commuting on an as-needed basis. In China, the earliest car-sharing player was CC Clubs, founded in 2010. The market grew mildly in the first few years, and the total fleet size was still less than 1,000 by 2013. However, since 2015 car sharing in China has gained momentum, reaching fleet sizes of up to 30,000 vehicles as of early 2017 – mainly in Tier 1 and 2 cities, with an average yearly growth rate of over 200 percent. The strong growth is driven by two major factors. First, the Chinese government leverages car sharing to stimulate the new energy vehicle (NEV) market and increase individual mobility efficiency. In June 2017, the central government released a draft of guidance for the car-sharing industry, in which supporting policies for car sharing were set up. It specified requirements for careditorial@roboticsandautomationnews.com
Features
Future automotive pyramid = traditional roles
= new roles Customer Mobility Interface Provider Operating System Provider
Integrated Autonomous Solutions Provider Autonomous Modules Supplier (SW W//HW W)) Autonomous Components Supplier Autonomous Driving
OEM
Powertrain Solutions Provider
Tier 1 Supplier
Tier 2-n Supplier
Ve V ehicle Supply
Electrical Modules Supplier ((Battery, HW, SW) Electrical Components Supplier Clean V Ve ehicle Solutions
Source: Arthur D. Little
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A total of 42 percent of Chinese customers are willing to replace private cars with appropriate car sharing and other new mobility services, in comparison with the global average of 22 percent.
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Global G
Mapping of key car-sharing players in China
ReachNow
Car2go
Local
Local OEMs lead the way in the car-sharing market Since 2015, a large number of players have entered this market. By early 2017 the total number had reached over 100. Currently, there are three main types of car-sharing players in the market – OEMs (approximately 75 percent of the market share), car-rental companies (roughly 5 percent), and third-party technology companies (mostly start-ups funded by venture capitals, about 20 percent).
For example, Microcity, founded in 2013, the largest player so far in China, has strong support from Geely. All of its vehicles are provided by Kandi EV, the joint venture between Geely (50 percent) and Kandi Group (50 percent). With substantial support from the Hangzhou government, including free parking spaces and a subsidy for infrastructure construction and charging, it had approximately 11,000 vehicles in operation by late 2016. Besides its network inside Hangzhou, it has built up service spots in neighboring tier-3 and -4 tourism cities. Tourists can drive the cars from Hangzhou to these places of interest nearby very conveniently. Foreign OEMs have also launched car-sharing businesses in China, although the market share is much
Orig gin
sharing businesses, defined their role in urban mobility, and offered high-level support measures such as parking spaces. Prior to this, many local governments had already established support policies for car sharing. For example, in February 2016, the Shanghai government set a target for car sharing to achieve 6,000 service spots, a fleet of 20,000 electrical vehicles (EVs) and 30,000 charging poles by 2020. Free parking spaces were provided to car-sharing companies in governmentcontrolled parking lots, e.g., at government organizations, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), airports and so on. Subsidies are granted for operations and car-sharing platform development. For instance, for 2017 and 2018, they cover 30 percent of the cost of parking spaces, charging infrastructure and electricity, with an upper limit of 3 million RMB per year. Second, public transportation is still insufficient in China. For instance, average bus ownership is 0.3 per thousand people in China, while that number is 0.5 in the UK. The average subway length in Shanghai was 25 meters per thousand people in 2016, which is about half of that in London. Private-vehicle ownership is also low in China, at approximately 110 per thousand people as of the end of 2016 (only 1/8 of that of the US and 1/5 of the UK). In addition, in certain large cities, such as Shanghai and Beijing, registered car plates are strictly controlled by government due to traffic jams, which consequently restrains citizens from owning cars. Even for those with cars, there is inconvenience due to traffic control on private cars in cities such as Beijing and Hangzhou. As a result, car sharing as an alternative solution has been well received by Chinese customers. According to Arthur D. Little’s recent global study of over 6,500 customers, “The Future of Automotive Mobility”, 42 percent of Chinese customers are willing to replace private cars with appropriate car sharing and other new mobility services, in comparison with the global average of 22 percent.
Urban mobility
Courtesy of China Daily
Features
Audi At Home
Car2 2share
Merger
EZZY
CC Clubs
GCSR1
Gre e enGo
BaGe
TOGO
Pand Auto
Miccrocity
I-GO
YiDu
Eakay
Yiweixiang
Third-p party technology company
Offffer EV car
OEM
Gofun
HiCar
Car-rental provider
Nature of opera a tor Only offffer gasoline car
1) GCSR = Global Car Sharing & Rental, the newly founded company after the merge of EVCard and E-Sharing Source: Arthur D. Little analysis
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Features
lower than for local ones. Even Daimler, the largest foreign player by volume, had only approximately 1,000 vehicles in operation in early 2017. Daimler launched two carsharing brands in China in 2016 – Car2Share (focusing on B2B) and Car2go (focusing on B2C), and then merged them in early 2017. Compared with local OEMs, vehicles by foreign OEMs are more premium, and mostly with internal combustion engines (ICEs). Considering most supporting policies of local governments focus on NEVs only, foreign OEMs will be at a disadvantage in the future in terms of getting subsidies, business plates and parking spaces if they do not have NEV fleets. The Chinese central government has released fuel consumption and NEV credit requirements for OEMs, defining the NEV penetration target for 2020. Car sharing can be a major way for OEMs to digest the NEV volume quota for OEMs. Currently, 90 percent of the shared cars in the market are NEVs (major models including Kandi EV, Lifan EV, BAIC EV160, ROEWE E50, Chery EQ and so on), and 10 percent are ICE cars, mainly run by the brands of TOGO (models including Smart, Mini, Citroen C3-XR, ROEWE 550, Peugeot 2008) and Car2go (Smart). In addition, according to ADL’s global study, the classic automotive pyramid is changing due to the development of shared mobility, autonomous driving and electric vehicles . The new role of “customer mobility interface provider” is taking access to, and relationships with, end customers from OEMs. Moreover, they are likely to have higher bargaining power due to large procurement volumes. Given these risks, OEMs have strong motivation to be engaged in this role. Of all the new mobility services, chauffeur and carsharing services are considered to have high potential in China. However, Chinese local governments have launched very strict controls over chauffeur services.
Urban mobility
Typical cost structure of car-sharing business in Shanghai (Q3, 2017)
Loss
~20% Revenue 60-70 %
~10% Total Vehicle Insurance Parking cost depreciation1 fee
Power cost
Others2
1) Typical local EV models, price RMB 80-90K; 2) Others include labor cost, maintenance cost, etc. Source: Arthur D. Little analysis
A Industry consolidation and improved customer acceptance, or even loyalty, will lead to higher fleet utilization and scale of economy.
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10%-2 0%
100%
~15%
Costs and restrictions create challenges to overcome Although car sharing is booming, the business faces multiple challenges. Most players are not profitable and struggling to overcome various operational difficulties. The price of car sharing is relatively low in China. The major competitor of car sharing is taxi, which is also low priced compared with that in developed countries. As a result, the price of car sharing is even lower. In the long run, with salary levels of taxi drivers increasing (due to the rapid increase of labor cost in China), relative competiveness of car sharing versus taxi will improve. On the other hand, utilization of vehicles is low – less than 20 percent as of Q1 2017. The major reason is the limited number of service spots, which are scattered among
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~40%
different players, as well as operational hurdles such as “tides” (insufficient supply during rush hour, while cars are idle during non-rush hour). The fixed cost of vehicles is high. In China, over 90 percent of car-sharing vehicles are EVs. But the residual value of EVs is much lower than for ICE vehicles. In addition, the insurance rate for operational vehicles, including taxi, car sharing and car rental. is fixed and much higher than for private cars. However, utilization for car sharing is currently much lower than that of other operational vehicles, such as taxis. Parking is expensive, too, especially for Tier 1 and 2 cities. For car-sharing companies, downtown areas such as central business districts (CBDs) are critical spots that drive business, considering their high customer flow and hence strong possibility of being departure areas and destinations for customers. However, the parking cost is also higher in these areas. It’s key to balance the benefits and costs when choosing parking locations. Also, In Tier 1 cities, the number of business plates (license plates issued for business operations such as car sharing and taxi) is strictly controlled. Beijing released only 2,000 plates for NEV car-sharing businesses in 2016. This consequently becomes a major challenge for players to expand their businesses in these cities. The Chinese car-sharing market in the future Despite the challenges above, car sharing will grow with big momentum, with more players entering the battle. In the near future, the sector will further consolidate, as the scale and the necessary resources, such as plates and parking lots, that the business needs, are limited. Industry consolidation and improved customer acceptance, or even loyalty, will lead to higher fleet utilization and scale of economy. Breakeven of the business case will then be achieved. However, given the challenging environment, players need to outperform in several key areas to survive and achieve competitive advantages. l www.roboticsandautomationnews.com
Promotion
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Marketplace
Marketplace: companies Associati A i tiions: Robotics and Automatiion
British Automation & Robot Association bara.org.uk The aim of the BARA is to promote the use of, and assist in the development of Industrial Robots and Automation in British industry. In 2009 BARA joined forces with the PPMA (Processing & Packaging Machinery Association) to become a special interest focus group.
International Federation of Robotics ifr.org
Robotics Society of o Japan sj.or.jp The Robotics Socieety of Japan promotes progress in academic ields and providess specialists with ith a venue ffor an nnouncing i heir research and d exchanging echnical informattion.
The purpose of IFR shall be to promote and strengthen the robotics b ti industry i d t worldwide, ld id to t protect its business interests, to cause public awareness about robotics technologies and to deal with other matters of relevance to its members.
euRobotics AISBL is a Brussels based internationaal non-profit association for all stakeholders n European robotics. euRobotics builds upon the su uccess of the European Roboticss Technology Platform and the academic a network of EURON N, and will continue the coopeeration abetween members of these two community driven organisations.
Our Mission is to foster the development and facilitate the exchange of scientific and technological knowledge in Robotics and Automation that benefits members, the profession and humanity. Our Vision is to be the most recognized and respected global organization in Robotics and Automation.
Robotic Industriess Association obotics.org
China Robot Industry Alliance cria.mei.net.cn
The Robotic Industries Association RIA) drives innovaation, growth, and safety in manu ufacturing and service industtries through g education, promottion, and advancement of roobotics, related automation technoologies, and companies deliverring integrated solutions.
CRIA is a non-profit organization composed of enterprises, manufacturers, universities, research institutes,, regional g or local robotic associations, related organizations as well as organizations in the fields of R&D, manufacturing, application and services of the robot industry.
d
PHD PHD is a leading manufacturerr of industrial automation actuators, rs, designed to help companies across all industries optimize their manufacturing processes. s. phdinc.com
Witte enstein
ATC
From m machine tools or woodworking oodworking and packaaging machines through robotics and handling equip ipmentt tto ffood d processing, pharm maceutical and medical techn nology or intralogistics, Wittenstein actuators keep you one step ahead of the competition. witten nstein-us.com
The Actuator Technology Company operatess independently and is located close to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. rt. W are acclaimed We l i d and d appreciated i t d for offering vital design support during FEED and detailed design stage (EPC). atc-actuators.com
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society ieee-ras.org
euRobotics AISBL L eu robotics net eu-robotics.net
b ti
Acttuation t ti
t
ti
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Ham--Let More than half a century of excellence servicing the high purityy and process industries with designing, developing, producing and marketing of fluid system comp ponents. ham-let.com -let.com
The Valve and Actuator Co We realise there is an urgent need to provide experienced technical support with competitive pricing. We carry an extensive stock of electric and pneumatic actuators and general valves. valveandactuatorcompany.co.uk
Rethink nk Robotics Our patented p SEA technology uses springs to advance the robot’s motioon control solution from one of rigid positioning to one of force contrrol. rethin nkrobotics.com
Parker Parker actuators come in a wide de range of construction types, ranging g g from compact p light g duty aluminum air actuators, motorized electric actuators, to heavy duty hydraulic designs. parker.com
dit i l@roboticsandautomationnews.com b ti d t ti
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Marketplace: companies Computing C ti & Software
Arduino Arduino is an open-source computer hardware and software com mpany, project and user commun nity that designs and manufacturess kits for building digital devices and d interactive objects that can sense and control the physical world d. arduino.cc
IIntegr t ration ti & Proce ess
Cogn nex No matter m what the machine vision n application, Cognex offers a complete mplete family of vision products—from ucts—from standalone vision systeems to 3D vision software— that p provide unparalleled accuracy and repeatability. cognex.com
RoboDK
Raspberry Pi
Rockwell Automation
Offline programming has never been easier thanks to RoboDK. You don’t need to l learn b d brand-specific ifi lan l guages anymore. RoboDK handlles the robot controller syntax aand outputs the right program for your robot. robodk.com
The Raspberry Pi is a series of credit caardsized single-board d computers develooped in the UK b the by th Raspberry R b Pi Foundation F d ti with the intention of promoting the teaching of baasic computer science in schoolss. raspberrypi.org
Preferred in ntegration starts with using plug--and-play technology, which mean ns robots connect through Eth hernet/IP with software and d service i e interfaces i t f that simplify dessign, operation and maintenancce efforts to improve machine and nd overall line OEE. rockwellautomation.com tomation.com
Adept Adep pt has cultivated and main ntained key partnerships with indusstry-leading integrators, OEMss, and machine builders acrosss the globe and throughout numeerous application segments. adept.com
Evana Auto omation
KUKA.WorkVisual Dassault Systemes Robotics Programmer p provides a 3D environment wheree robot programmers can create, program, simulate and validate v an entire robot workcell. 3ds.com
Programming. Coonfiguration. Loading. Testing. Diagnosis. Modifying. Archiving. KUKA. WorkVisual group ps all the steps of a project together in a homogenous offline development, online diagnosis and a maintenance environment environment. kuka-robotics.com m
Evana specializes in designing and implementin ng robotics automation solutions thaat fit your specific manufacturing ing needs. Let our robotics eng gineering and robotics manufacturing ing experts develop a custom robotics otics automation solution that meets yyour requirements. evanaautom mation.com
NewB Botic Corporation NewB Botic is a robotic systems integ grator, best known for its sp pecialized engineering services that designs advanced transsformative manufacturing and wareehousing processes for a wide variety of industries. industries newb botic.com
FANUC Autthorized Integrators
Aldebaran by Softbank ABB RobotStudio Aldebaran enables both novices and experts to use its roobots with ease. To do this,, an SDK has been developed to support creation in the best way possible: 3D simulator, simple and intuitive programming software, C++ libraries, Python, .Net. aldebaran.com
RobotStudio provides the tools to increase the p prrofitabilityy of your robot system m by letting you perform tasks succh as training, programming, and optimization without disturbing g production. abb.com
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An Authorized zed FANUC Integrator is ready to analyze your system requirements nts and provide a robotic solution olution that will improve quality, ality, throughput, and productivityy to g p give yyou the return on investment ent you are looking for. fanucamerica.com ica.com
Gene esis Systems Geneesis Systems Group designs, builds and implements p robotic arc welding w systems, assembly autom mation systems and robotic toolin ng, material handling solutions, non-d destructive inspection cells and robottic waterjet cutting systems like n nobody else. genesis-systems.com
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Marketplace: companies Microcon Mi ntrollers t ll & Microcchips
Freescale Freescale F l Semico S i nductor d t enables bl secure, embedded d processing solutions for the In nternet of Tomorrow. Freesccale’s solutions drive a more innovvative and connected world, ssimplifying our ives and making u us safer. reescale.com
Atmel Atmel Corporation n is a worldwide eader in the desig gn and manufacture of microcontrollers, capacitive touch soolutions, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio requency compon nents nents. atmel.com
Silicon Labs Silicon Labs is a team of hardwarre and software innovvators dedicated o solving our custtomer’s oughest g embeddeed design g challenges. silabs.com
S nsors Se Ranesas
Alphasense
Renesas Eleectronics Corporation, the world’s n number one supplier of microcontrollers, m is a premier su upplier of advanced semiconductor solutions including microcontroollers, SoC solutions and a broad rang ge of analog and power devices. renesas.com m
Alphasense has established a reputation as a reliable sourcee for a wide range of gas sensorr technologies. We supply high-quality Oxygen,CO2, toxic and flammable Gas sensors to many of the world’s leading industrial OEMs. alphasense.com
STMicroelectronics
4D Te echnology
Sensiron
A world lead der in providing the semiconducctor solutions that make k a positive iti contribution n to people’s lives, both today and in n the future. st.com
4D Technology echnology designs and manu ufactures laser i t fferometers, interf t surface roughness profilers and interfferometry accessories. 4dtecchnology.com
Sensirion is a leading sensor manufacturer, providing relative ve humidity sensors and flow sensor solutions with unique performance. sensirion.com
Infineon
Sano
Hansford Sensors
We provide semiconductor and system solutions, utions, focusing on three centraal needs of our modern society: Eneergy Efficiency, Mobility and Securityy. infineon.com m
Sano is a biomeetric sensoor and software company with a paten nted, breakthrough sensor that w will help people understand what’s happening inside their bodiees through continuously monittoring important markers in their bodies’ chemistry. sano co sano.
At Hansford Sensors, we design, gn, develop and manufacture a wide range of high performance ce industrial accelerometers, vibration transmitters (loop powered sensors) and ancillary ry equipment. hansfordsensors.com
Texas Instruments
EMX
TI’s microcoontroller platform offers innovvative devices with integrated on-chip o architectures, unique intelllectual property, system expeertise in key markets, and a comp prehensive ecosystem y of software, tools and support. ti.com
EMX is one of the world’s leading ing innovators of specialty sensorss in the factory and process automation markets. Our sensors sors are used in automotive, packaging, ging, labeling, g, metal stamping, p g, paper er and wood processing, plastics,, electronics and pharmaceutical al manufacturing. g emxinc.com
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Synap ptics Synap ptics is a world leader in capacitive pacitive touch sensing p g techn nology. This patented techn nology is at the heart of our indusstry-standard TouchPad products ucts and other solutions. synap ptics.com
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Marketplace: companies Kawa ada
Kawasaki
SynTouch
For over 40 years,, Kawasaki has been improvin ng technology to meet the high demand of assembly applicattions. Kawasaki’s innovative hardwaare and software can help you solvee your complex assembly challenges. kawasaki.com
SynTouch LLC developed and makes the only sensor technology in the world d that endows robots with the ability to replicate - and sometimes exceed - the human sense of touch. uch. syntouchllcc.com
3D Robotics 3DR helps people see th heir world from above. As North Am merica’s largest personal drone company, c 3DR is a pioneer in making advanced, easy-to-use drone d technology. 3dr.com
Hond da Robotics
DENSO Robotics Yaskawa Yaskawa Motoman offerrs a wide range off industrial i d t i l robot b ttic ti arm models for high-speed p precision assembly and small parrt handling including high-performaance sixaxis robots; flexible seveen-axis manipulators; dual-arm m robots with 15 axes; and more. motoman.com
Universal Robots Universal Robots is a ressult of many years of intensive research in robotics. The product portfolio includes the collaborativve UR3, UR5 and UR10 robot arm ms named after their payloads in kiilos. universal-robots universal robots.com com
Vecna Vecna’s robotic logisticss solutions are a familyy of autonomoous mobile robots, built to operate within human-centric environments. vecna.com
Cutting edge technology, class leading prod ducts and groundbreaking systems ystems are only part of what you can expect when you choose h DENSO Robotics. R b ti densorobotics.com m
”Servving society throu ugh technology,” b has been Kawada’s mission since its inception in 1922. Our mission has been accomplished through techn nological innovations in a vast rangee of operations, including projeects involving transportation, energ gy, and information, all basic necessities of society. globaal.kawada.jp
Hond da has further advanced intellligence technologies enabling its ad dvanced humanoid robot ASIM MO to act autonomously and perfo form uninterrupted i t t d service i tto officee guests. hond da.com
SCHUNK SCHUNK iss one of the largest manufacturer f t rer for f automation t ti components, s, toolholders and workholding equipment. schunk.com m
Epson
iRobo ot
With over 45,000 robots installed in factories throug ghout the world, many of the top manufacturing companies rely on n Epson Robots every day to reducce production costs, improve prooduct quality, increase yields an nd help increase their bottom line. epson.com
iRobot’s ot’s home robots are revollutionizing the way people clean n – inside and out. More than 10 million home robots have been sold worldwide. www w.irobot.com
Robotiq Our goal is to enable all manufacturers rers to take full advantage of robotics. We work with robot manufacturers, system integrators and end-users to automate applications pplications that require fexibility fexibility. robotiq.com m
TEUN
Future Robot
TEUN is a compreehensive concept, based on n a smart unmanned machine, the PIQR. The concept has been developed to offerr a solution for the frequently q y com mplex p laborintensive and expeensive way of unloading contain ners. teun.com
We, Future F Robot, aim to create an exxemplary service robot markket. We deal with Coupon Advertising Robot, Mobile Infotaainment Service, Robot Event Serviice,, and manyy more.
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Honeybee Robotics Since 1983, Honeybee has completed p over 300 p projects j for NASA, the U US Department of Defense, accademia, industry and artists. honeybeeroobotics.com
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Sensor Readings
Marketplace
Marketplace: companies Brain Corpo oration Energid
Stäub bli Stäub bli is a mechatronics solutions provider with three dediccated divisions: textile, connectors ectors and robotics, serving customers omers who want to increase their productivity in many indusstrial sectors. staub bli.com
Energid Technolog gies develops dvanced softwaree and robotic ystems for the aeerospace, griculture, manufacturing, ransportation, deffense, and medical industriess. energid.com
Brain Corpooration develops software, haardware, and cloud services forr consumer robotics. Our goal is to t make intelligent and useful m machines a part of everyday lifee with the world’s first training-bassed operating system for robots – BrainOS. braincorporration.com
Ekso Bionics
Bosch Robo otics
DMG Mori Ellison
Ekso Bionics helpss urvivors of strokee, pinal cord injury aand other forms of low wer extremity weakness k to t walk lk again. i ntl.eksobionics.coom
We are workking on Personal Robotics and the enabling technologies. Our interdisciplinary team conducts research on topics such h as mobile bil manipulation, i l ti navigation, p perception and semantic an nalysis of 3D data. bosch.us
DMG Mori Ellison Technologies is a provider vider of advanced machining solutions to North American metal-cutting manufacturers and th i global their l b l affiliates. ffiliates. ellisoontechnologies.com
ASI
DAIHEN
Autonomouss Solutions is a world leeader in vendor independentt vehicle automation systems. Frrom our HQ in Utah, we serve clients in the mining, agriculture, automotive, governmentt, and manufacturing industries w with remote control, teleoperatioon, and fully automated solutions solutions. asirobots.coom
The D DAIHEN Group makes it our m mission to provide products and services indispensable to primaary industries around the world d, including first and foremost the poower industry or so-called “lifeline” of society. daiheen.co.jp
Dyson Dyson recently invvested in a oint robotics lab with w Imperial College London too investigate ision systems and d engineer a generation of houssehold robots. dyson co uk dyson.co.uk
Clearpath Roboticcs
Axium m
We build the world d’s best unmanned vehiclees for research nd development. Our products will save time, money and headaches on your next project. learpathrobotics. p .com
Axium m designs, manufactures and in nstalls a complete range of autom mated solutions for robotic material handling (palletizing, depallletizing, case packing, and perip p pheral equipments) q p and transformation of plastic products. axium msolutions.com
Aethon Aethon is beest known for its TUG autonomouss mobile deliveryy robot which transports medications, meals and materials m through hospitals. aethon.com
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Aurotek Aurotek delivers high valueadded services and solutions, and helping customers achievee greater value through its introduction of advanced and quality components, acquirement ment of new technology concepts. robot.com.tw
Apex Automation and Robotics Apex Automation A A t ti and d Robotics R b ti s is an Australian company specialising in the design and manufacture of custom-built automation machines and robotic otic systems. apexautomation.com.au
Adept Adept systems provide unmatched ched performance and economic value throughout the production on lifecycle, enabling customers too achieve precision, quality and productivity in their assembly, handling and packaging processes. sses. adept.com
Reis Experts know REIS as creative pacemaker for process-oriented d system y solutions. Since 1957 our ur way has been going dynamicallyy up. The fundamentals: Inventive genius, nius, competence, innovative power, and reliability. reisrobotics.de
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