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Reducer, also known as "robot joint", is the core transmission component of high-end automation equipment represented by industrial robots. On the road to the rise of domestic robots, the industrialization and automation of reducers are very important.

Analysis of the importance of "joint" reducer to domestic robots

In the face of high labor costs and the unique precision and efficiency of robots, China has become the world's largest robot market in 2013, and the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and other advantageous manufacturing areas have entered a "new era of robots". Guarding the largest robot market, domestic robots have not been able to get the first month, and domestic robots only account for about 5% of the domestic market share.

The bottleneck that plagues the healthy development of my country's robot industry lies in the inability of the three core components of the reducer, AC and DC servo motors and controllers to be self-sufficient.

Of course, domestic enterprises are fighting high to achieve the goal of self-sufficiency in core components, and have also achieved a lot of achievements:

In April of this year, Suzhou Green Harmonic took 5 years to finally conquer the production technology of precision reducer for robots, and broke Japan's monopoly on this technology with the advantages of high performance, long life and short delivery time;

In May, Jiangsu Nantong Zhenkang Machinery produced the first batch of RV precision reducers, marking that the company has overcome a series of engineering technical difficulties in the design, processing and assembly of RV precision reducers, and has become the only mass-produced RV precision reducer in mainland China. enterprise;

In June, Jiangsu Tailong Group independently developed four types of high-precision reducers: cycloid envelope precision reducer, harmonic reducer, cycloid steel ball reducer, and wheel motor reducer. These four high-precision reducers have broken through the technological monopoly of Japan, the Czech Republic and other foreign countries, overcome the international technical barriers of reducers for RV robots, and achieved a major breakthrough in the localization of precision reducers for domestic robots.

Those things about robots and reducers

The robot consists of three systems, namely the control system, the servo system, and the transmission system. The rv reducer in the transmission system is the joint of the robot, like the gearbox of a car, which controls the power output and operation accuracy of the robot, accounting for one robot. 33% of the cost. The robot joint reducer is required to have the characteristics of short transmission chain, small size, high power, light weight and easy control. In general, a general robot needs 4-8 sets of reducers.

According to data provided by the China Robotics Alliance, my country's industrial robot market will reach 600 billion yuan in the next 10 years, while an industrial robot needs 4-8 joint reducers, and the market for robot reducers alone will exceed 100 billion yuan. An industry insider said that if a general robot is equipped with 4.5 sets of reducers, then from 2014 to 2018, the new demand for reducers for industrial robots in my country will reach 189,000 sets, 236,000 sets, and 296,000 sets respectively. , 369,000 sets, 462,000 sets.

Although the domestic demand potential for reducers for robots is huge, the domestic market is still occupied by foreign brands, especially Japanese manufacturers. 75% of the global precision reducer market is monopolized by Japan, and only a small number of domestic products are put on the market. Statistics from the High-tech Industrial Research and Robotics Institute (GRII) show that as of now, the number of domestic robot companies has exceeded 420, but only 13 companies have researched reducers, and only 5 have made preliminary progress in RV reducers. , the current research and development is still difficult.

The autonomy of the reducer is the top priority

Let's take a look at the analysis of the cost structure of robots:

Robot Cost Composition Chart

The proportion of the reducer is the highest single component. A joint and an action need a reducer to support it. Planetary reducer, RV precision cycloidal reducer, and harmonic reducer are the current mainstream reducers of robots. The drive system requires small clearance, high rigidity, high output torque and large reduction ratio of the transmission system. Therefore, the planetary row cylindrical helical gear drive is adopted. The design of the mechanism or the cycloidal gear transmission mechanism combined with the planetary row is inevitable, but the machining accuracy of key components such as gears, cycloidal gears, especially the inner gear ring gear cannot be fully guaranteed in China, and mass production cannot yet be formed. Reliance on imports severely restricts the demand for independent market, which also directly leads to the fact that the reducer is the most important factor for the high cost of domestic industrial robots.

So, as it stands now. Providing large-scale and reliable precision reducer components is the top priority of my country's robot industrialization and autonomy.

The RV reducer has been monopolized by Japan and other foreign companies for a long time, resulting in the Chinese robot industry being controlled by others. The RV high-precision reducer developed for robots has been listed as a key research topic in the national "863" plan. With the increased support for major special projects such as the "Robot Joint Reducer Production Line" and the continuous R&D investment of enterprises, the realization of the localization and autonomy of robot components, and the substantial reduction of costs and pricing, the era of large-scale application of industrial robots in my country has become possible. expected.

The robot industry chain is roughly divided into upstream key components, midstream machine system integration and downstream applications. From the perspective of the industrial chain, the gap between upstream key components and foreign countries is relatively large. Among all the core components, the reducer is the most critical. Therefore, for the development of China's robot robot industry, the localization of precision reducers is imminent, and domestic enterprises will work hard and concentrate on technology research and development and innovation, which is a major issue in the future development strategy.