Humanoid robots are still in the first half of the marathon. UBTECH's business strategy is laid out in this way
2024-08-25
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From August 21st to 25th, the 2024 World Robot Conference was held in Beijing. The theme of this conference was "Co-cultivating New Quality Productivity and Sharing an Intelligent New Future". Humanoid robots attracted much attention. In addition to bringing humanoid robot industrial scenario solutions, UBTECH also demonstrated products and solutions in artificial intelligence education, commercial services, and consumer robots based on the full stack technology of humanoid robots.Ma Ping, vice president of UBTECH, mentioned that as the company's other businesses develop, the proportion of education business revenue will naturally decline. However, in terms of absolute data, the education business revenue in the first half of this year also increased year-on-year. UBTECH CBO Tan Min believes that the company will not expand to quadruped robots, and the core is humanoid robots. At present, the humanoid robot industry is not at the stage of talking about victory or defeat.
UBTECH's education business revenue still grew year-on-year in the first half of the yearAt this exhibition, UBTECH's education business fully exhibited solutions that empower educational scenarios with artificial intelligence and humanoid robot technology. The basic education section focused on exhibiting overall solutions for basic education using artificial intelligence, artificial intelligence education products, and implementation cases.UBTECH's previous prospectus showed that educational intelligent robot products and solutions are UBTECH's largest source of revenue, accounting for 82.7%, 56.5%, 51.2% and 29% of its revenue in 2020-the first half of 2023, respectively.How do you view the decline in the proportion of education business revenue? Ma Ping, vice president of UBTECH, explained that the high proportion of education business before was because other sectors were still incubating. As other businesses developed and the commercialization path became clearer, the company's revenue scale expanded, and the proportion of education business revenue naturally declined. However, in terms of absolute data, the revenue of education business in the first half of this year also increased year-on-year.Ma Ping introduced that UBTECH's education business is mainly based on artificial intelligence education solutions, using AI to learn AI for market expansion. The popularity of artificial intelligence large models is unprecedented, and technology will always empower scenarios. UBTECH has clearly proposed two lines: intelligent teaching and teaching intelligence, using AIGC to empower education, and also launched the Xingzhi series of products, using artificial intelligence technology to empower teachers of various disciplines to learn across disciplines.For example, the Shenzhen AI Education Popularization Project has now covered 220,000 primary and secondary school students in more than 700 primary and secondary schools in Shenzhen. At the same time, it has completed 122 city, district and school-level services, cultivating a team of nearly 2,000 high-quality teachers in the field of AI education for Shenzhen.Some time ago, the Beijing Municipal Government issued the "Implementation Plan for Deepening Basic Education Curriculum Teaching Reform in Beijing", which mentioned "cultivating a number of artificial intelligence application scenarios in the education field, developing and promoting smart learning partners, and implementing smart tutoring." How do you predict the prospects of this market?Ma Ping believes that models such as smart learning partners may have some practices and achievements in some regional education reforms. From an industry perspective, smart learning partners that meet customer expectations have only just begun, and the market for commercialization is still very broad.In the future, will humanoid educational robot products be launched at the basic education level?"From the perspective of AIGC empowering education, we regard all technologies as tools and means, and humanoid robots as a carrier for learning artificial intelligence. This is a direction to consider in future product planning, and many universities have indeed discussed cooperation with us. We may pay more attention to using AI as a learning partner, that is, the process of human-computer interaction that allows children and robots to grow together." Ma Ping said.The company will not expand into quadruped robotsAt the 2024 World Robot Conference, UBTECH's industrial humanoid robot Walker S series demonstrated the ability to complete a variety of task scenarios, including intelligent handling, intelligent sorting, intelligent quality inspection, screw tightening, parts installation, and process material operations.UBTECH CBO Tan Min introduced that UBTECH has realized the training of human resources on real production lines and is now in the early stage of large-scale mass production. For humanoid robots to truly become workers, they must go through the concept verification stage and enter a highly automated production system to verify that they are usable, easy to use, durable, and feasible on an economic scale. This stage lasts for 12-24 months. Personalized customization services for different scenarios are a rapid iteration of small quantities."Although it seems to be in the early stages, we have received more than 500 orders. The field of intelligent manufacturing is a huge market with rigid demand," said Tan Min. This year, UBTECH has focused on key manufacturing fields such as automobiles and 3C to enhance the tool operation and task execution capabilities of humanoid robots.How will the company lay out its business strategy in the future? Tan Min introduced that UBTECH's business strategy is "1+4+1". "The first '1' is to focus on humanoid robots as a long-term research and development focus, as the driving force of the entire technology. '4' is centered around people's livelihood services, including future-oriented artificial intelligence education, smart logistics, smart health care, and commercial service robots. The last '1' is the consumer-end robot business, such as cat litter machines. The company's business is diversified."What are the advantages of entering the robot vacuum cleaner industry? "UBTECH's robot vacuum cleaners have high power to handle pet hair. They are differentiated around the pet population and focus on the pain points of pet lovers, such as cat litter machines, feeders, hair vacuum cleaners, and robot vacuum cleaners. The closed loop of demand forms a product ecosystem. As of June 30, more than 130,000 cat litter machines have been sold," said Tan Min.Is the company planning to develop quadruped robots? Tan Min mentioned that the company has always had quadruped robots. The "pioneer ox" design of the Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Ox is a quadruped robot. At present, the company will not expand to quadruped robots, and the core is humanoid robots."Gathering humanoid robots does not mean that all of them are humanoid. Humanoid is the driving force of core technology, which includes large machine vision and voice models, navigation, and operating systems. It is a huge and complex system. There are thousands of jobs behind the humanoid that are constantly accumulating and moving forward. The seven technology companies with the highest market value in the United States have all invested in humanoid robots. There is no need for further verification, and commercial applications need to be accelerated rapidly." Tan Min believes.With the competition hot and giants entering the market, how can UBTECH stand out? Tan Min likened the development of humanoid robots to a marathon. "At present, some players are still in the laboratory, while we have already started working in the factory. In the first 1,000 meters of a 30-kilometer marathon, there is no need to talk about winning or losing. We just need to work hard, because right or wrong cannot be proven at present, and the market can accommodate many players."Chen Weicheng, financial reporter of Beijing News ShellEdited by Wei BoyaProofread by Lucy
