The world's first robotic intelligent distribution station is enabled

After the parcel is transported from the logistics storage center to the delivery station, the goods are distributed according to the delivery location on the logistics sorting line. After the distribution is completed, the loading personnel in the station will load the parcel into the delivery robot according to the address, and then distribute it to the consumer by the delivery robot. .

According to the operation plan, the distribution station covers the area around Changsha Science and Technology New Town for the first time. All the stations use JD3.5 generation distribution robots, which not only have autonomous navigation, intelligent obstacle avoidance, traffic light recognition, face recognition and picking ability, each robot You can also distribute 30 packages at a time.

From the point of view of distribution capacity, the distribution station sets up a maximum of 2,000 packages per day, and at the same time cooperates with the traditional logistics distribution methods in the area to provide logistics distribution services for the surrounding 5 kilometers of residents. The proportion of human-machine distribution in the whole region will reach 1: 1.

Yang Jing, general manager of the Automated Driving Center of JD Logistics X Division, said that the world's first intelligent distribution station for distribution robots is of strategic significance for solving the “last mile” distribution problem of urban logistics, not only JD logistics unmanned technology and distribution. The deep integration of the business will also become a typical scene for the future application and promotion of robots in the entire logistics and distribution industry by creating a national intelligent logistics terminal distribution demonstration center.

Up to now, JD distribution robots have been implemented in more than 20 cities across the country. According to Liu Xiangdong, Director of Operation of Automated Driving Center of JD Logistics X Business Unit, while the first intelligent distribution station in Changsha was opened, the JD Logistics Intelligent Distribution Demonstration Base in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia will also be put into trial operation and become JD nationwide. The second intelligent distribution station.

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Japanese industry-university joint development AI massage robot

According to a report by Nippon Kyodo News on November 20, Japan’s Toyohashi University of Technology (Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture) announced on the 20th that it will jointly develop a five-finger massage robot controlled by AI with health machine manufacturer Riccoh (Tokyo). The AI will learn the intensity and position of the press and reproduce the craftsmanship of the masseur. In addition to serving the people who are worried about the body's soreness, in order to reduce the burden on the masseur and alleviate the shortage of staff, the use of massage shops is also expected.

The five fingers consist of four fingers for grasping and a thumb for pressing. It can be installed at the top of the slider of the bedside track, and the position of the massage can be determined by the camera.

The robot is said to use the AI to adjust the intensity or read the heart rate, expression and sound, and massage with the user's condition after multiple massages.

The test machine was released on the 20th and demonstrated using a mannequin that was lying on the bed. Riccoh's head of research and development said that he would strive to be practical in 2021, and said that "I hope to reproduce the massage experience of manpower or robot, and create a caring massage machine."

The five fingers consist of four fingers for grasping and a thumb for pressing. It can be installed at the top of the slider of the bedside track, and the position of the massage can be determined by the camera.

The robot is said to use the AI ​​to adjust the intensity or read the heart rate, expression and sound, and massage with the user's condition after multiple massages.

The test machine was released on the 20th and demonstrated using a mannequin that was lying on the bed. Riccoh's head of research and development said that he would strive to be practical in 2021, and said that "I hope to reproduce the massage experience of manpower or robot, and create a caring massage machine."

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Will the robot replace 75 million jobs in the next five years, do you have a job?

On September 17, a recent report from the World Economic Forum pointed out that humans currently carry 71% of the world's work tasks, and by 2025, machines will take on more work than humans. Workplace machines and algorithms are rapidly evolving, creating 133 million new jobs, replacing 75 million jobs that will be lost between now and 2022.

The "2018 Future Employment Report ("Report") survey covers more than 300 global companies in a wide range of industry sectors, representing more than 15 million employees, involving 20 developed and emerging economies (total) 70% of global GDP).

This trend will have a profound impact on global labor. According to the Report, the rise of workplace revolutions around the world will dramatically change the way humans work with machines and algorithms. At present, the machine is responsible for 29% of the world's work tasks, and by 2025 will be more than half. The Report is positive about this. It points out that the outlook is still optimistic about the overall number of new jobs. Compared to the lost 75 million jobs, it is expected to add 133 million jobs by 2022.

automation

The Report states that automation will have a disruptive impact on the global workforce and will almost certainly result in dramatic changes in the nature, location, form and duration of jobs that will require close attention from public and private sector leaders.

“About 50% of companies expect that by 2022, automation will reduce the number of full-time employees, nearly 40% of companies expect to expand their workforce, and more than a quarter of companies expect automation to create new jobs within the company.” The report said.

Saadia Zahidi, Director of the New Economic and Social Center of the World Economic Forum, said: "Companies need to complement the automation plan with a comprehensive strengthening strategy. To maintain vitality, differentiation and competitiveness in the age of machines, companies must invest in the development of human capital. It is both morally and economically necessary. Without active action, companies and workers may miss the economic potential of the fourth industrial revolution."

New growth

Although the Report expects a net increase in the number of positions, the nature, location, format and duration of the new position will be significantly different.

As the division of labor between humans and machines continues to develop, workers will need new skill sets. According to the interviewed company, humans currently bear 71% of the total task hours, while the machine is engaged in the remaining 29%. By 2022, it is expected that humans will bear an average of 58% of mission hours, and the share of machines will rise to 42%.

All industries are expected to form a significant skill gap with an average skill instability of 42%, highlighting the severity of helping workers respond to changes in existing positions and future new positions. Certain capabilities will become increasingly important, including proficiency in technology (such as process design and programming) and unique human skills (such as creativity, critical thinking, and persuasion).

The extent of labor expansion and contraction varies from industry to industry. Job turnover rates are expected to vary significantly. For example, in the mining and metals, consumer goods, information and technology industries, the proportion of companies that are expected to cut jobs is higher than that of companies in the professional services industry. Jobs and skill needs in one industry are reduced, but another industry may grow. The Report shows that there are opportunities to coordinate and promote career transformation strategies among different industries.

The report's recommendations are: “Workers must have the right skills to adapt to future employment needs, and the actions of business and policy makers must be coordinated and complementary, investing in the development of human capital.”

According to the report, respondents who participated in the report said that they should respond to the challenges of the new employment situation, three strategies: long-term employment of new employees with new technology-related skills; full automation of work tasks; and retraining existing employees. There are also many companies that expect to assign jobs to professional contractors, freelancers and temporary workers.

Employee retraining

Through a survey of the chief human resources officer and top strategist of 12 companies and 20 developed and emerging economies (70% of global GDP), the Report found that 54% of large company employees need effective skills. Training can fully grasp the growth opportunities brought about by the fourth industrial revolution. At the same time, less than half of the companies surveyed said they plan to retrain their employees in key positions, and only one-third of the companies plan to retrain employees at risk.

Among the companies surveyed, respondents expect that the number of jobs will decrease by approximately 984,000 from the present to 2022, an increase of 1.74 million. Among the 20 economies covered by the report, according to these trends in non-agricultural employees of large companies, it is likely that 75 million jobs will be lost as the division of labor between humans, machines and algorithms changes. It is expected to create 133 million jobs that are more suitable for the new division of labor.

All industries are expected to form a significant skill gap, and the Report expects that the highest demand for skills retraining in 2018-2022 is aviation and tourism. In the ICT, financial services and investment, mining and metals industries, the skills gap is also significant. The transportation industry is the least likely to retrain existing employees, while business leaders in the global health and medical, chemical, advanced materials and biotechnology industries are most likely to retrain employees.

According to the Report, the demand for data analysts and scientists, software and application developers, e-commerce and social media experts will increase in all industries, and these positions are particularly dependent on or benefit from technology. Positions that clearly require “human skills”, such as sales and marketing professionals, innovation managers, and customer service staff, will also see an increase in demand. Jobs that are expected to be oversupplied include white-collar jobs for routine work, such as data entry, accounting, and payrollers.

According to the report, companies will use more contractors to perform specialized tasks, hire workers in a more flexible manner, remotely staff, change the location of the organization's operations, and ensure access to talent.

In addition, job requirements vary from region to region. It is estimated that the projected increase in job requirements in the regions includes: financial and investment advisers in East Asia, the Pacific and Western Europe; assembly and factory workers in Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and Bibi, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa; Electrical engineer, etc.

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Robots work more efficiently

On August 15th, the five-day World Robotics Congress kicked off at the Beijing International Exhibition Center. The World Robotics Congress, known as the “Davos”, “Hanover Exhibition” and “Olympic Games” in the robotics industry, has been successfully held for three sessions. The theme of this conference is “To create a new era of wisdom and sharing kinetic energy”.

The Expo is one of the most watched and publicly-received sections of previous conferences. On the basis of the industrial robot and service robot exhibition area this year, the robot application exhibition area and the ground unmanned system exhibition area have also been newly established. The four exhibition areas have gathered more than 150 domestic and foreign enterprises and scientific research institutions such as Shenyang Xinsong, Harbin Institute of Technology, China Aerospace, Swiss ABB, Japan FANUC, Yaskawa, and Festo.

FANUC Super Robot M-2000iA/1700L

As a representative of FANUC China, Shanghai FANUC Robotics Co., Ltd. contributed most of the booth to the “Giant Robot” FANUC Robot M-2000iA, a heavy object handling robot.

The M-2000iA series robots are divided into M-2000iA/900L and M-2000iA/1200 series models, which can be selected according to different purposes. According to Fanuc, the series can handle a maximum of 2.3 tons, which can be used to replace the professional lifting device in the car factory. In the past, one ton of heavy objects that two robots needed to coordinate their movements could now be processed by a “big robot”.

At the scene, Fanuc displayed the series of super-large robot M-2000iA/1700L to carry the finished vehicle. The robot has a wide range of motion, with a stroke of up to 6.2 meters in the up and down direction and a handling capacity of 1.7 tons. The huge robotic arm can grip the entire body from the side of the car. This expands the scope of the robot's handling of heavy loads and provides flexibility in responding to changing plant layouts.

Shenyang Xinsong's stage mobile robot

As the leading enterprise in the domestic robot industry, Shenyang Xinsong highlighted the stage mobile robot in this exhibition. The robot participated in the performance of “Beijing Eight Minutes” at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in 2018.

This is a low-profile two-vehicle linkage AGV (automatic guided transport vehicle). It can flexibly and accurately complete multi-variable path motion such as straight line, side shift, curve, rotation, etc. It can also be used to control the walking path. Multiple AGVs can also be automatically combined to form mobile stages with different load carrying capacities and different sizes.

In addition, Xinsong also exhibited a snake-arm robot with 12 joints and 24+1 degrees of freedom. It has products such as intelligent laser navigation, image technology, and voice interaction.

Gree Robot Band

In the gallery area of ​​the pavilion, a musical performance by a robotic band attracted the attention of many viewers.

This is the product brought by Zhuhai Gree Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned robot subsidiary of Gree Electric. The robot band consists of five modules: drum, guitar, bass, keyboard, and carillon. It uses eight GR606 industrial robots, two GRS405 horizontal multi-joint robots and one GRS401 horizontal multi-joint robot. The on-site staff introduced that by programming the robot's motion state and matching the special fixtures, the robot completed the whole song under the guidance of the music teacher.

Haigli Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. was established in September 2015. It is mainly engaged in the production and sales of industrial robots and automation equipment. The products cover servo robots, industrial robots, intelligent AGV, warehousing, heat exchanger special machine tools and equipment, and unmanned automated production lines. More than ten fields.

China Aerospace's "Little Xiao Xiao" Automatic Milk Tea Robot

Service robots are still very popular at this year's show. A fully automatic milk tea robot on the China Aerospace Science and Technology Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as China Aerospace) booth was surrounded by a group of children.

This two-armed six-dimensional human-automatic drink robot named "Little Xiao Xiao" is a product jointly launched by the 18th Research Institute of China Aerospace First Research Institute and Jiangsu Dianjin Huihai Automation Technology Co., Ltd. It is also the first two-dimensional six-dimensional collaborative humanoid robot used in the commercial field in China.

According to the on-site staff, “Xiaoying Xiaoyan” can make DIY exclusive drinks according to the raw materials in the store, which is not possible with similar products on the market.

Cheng Yuanchao, an engineer with China Aerospace Robotics, told the interface journalist that this fully automatic milk tea beverage robot was developed by the Institute in response to customer needs and will provide more than 1,000 milk tea drinks and ice cream after its launch. “The speed of on-site display has been doubled, and the time to complete a cup of milk tea after listing can be controlled within 1 minute,” he said.

Festo's bionic flying fox

Bionic robots have consistently received the highest level of attention.

The German Festo Group participated in the World Robotics Congress for the third time. The family business founded in 1925 is known for its concept of “bionic learning”. In the past ten years, it has developed a series of influential bionic robots. In the past two robotics conferences, the company exhibited products such as intelligent birds, bionic butterflies, bionic oysters and air jellyfish.

At this year's show, BionicFlyingFox, a new member of the Festo Group's bionic family, completed its Asian debut. At 12 noon on August 15th, the robot flew two rounds on the A210 booth. Due to the restrictions of the venue, the obstacles landed on the first lap.

In the bionic learning network project, flight is a high-frequency topic, and it usually needs to face two major challenges: lightweight and functional integration. The Festo Group has developed the ultra-light aircraft with intelligent motion devices by simulating the unique flight mode of the flying bats.

The two wings of the robot have a width of 228 cm and a body length of 87 cm. The overall weight is only 580 grams. The body is made of specially developed elastic airtight material made of elastic knit fabric and selectively welded metal foil. The honeycomb construction allows it to continue flying with minor damage.

By integrating the onboard electronic board with the external motion tracking system, the robot can perform semi-autonomous flight in a specific space. In flight, it can calculate the wing motion required to perform the planned motion sequence and use it as a basis to optimize flight operations.

Yuki Technology's Laikago

In the pavilion, a robot dog strolling back and forth caught everyone's attention. This is the four-legged robot Laikago (named from the space dog Laika) from Hangzhou Yushu Technology Co., Ltd. (Unitree).

Yu Shu, co-founder of Yushu Technology, told the interface journalist that this four-legged robot is completely self-developed and produced. The whole machine has 12 degrees of freedom, corresponding to 12 motors, and the bionics are good. On non-smooth roads, it can pass steps, stairs, slopes and gravel roads. At the same time, due to the force control of the whole machine, it also has the corresponding flexibility. In the future, similar four-legged robots can be used in security, rescue and disaster relief, home maintenance, scientific research and teaching.

Generally, when standing, Laikago has a length, width and height of 0.56 meters, 0.35 meters and 0.6 meters respectively. The whole machine has 12 high-performance motors with a total instantaneous maximum power of 18KW and a power mass density of 0.8KW/Kg (super running is about 0.45KW/Kg). The three-axis force control of the fuselage during exercise, the maximum tensile force is greater than or equal to 25N (programmable boost).

The robot is fully controlled with 6 degrees of freedom, and the external force received by the robot can be calculated according to the current output torque of the 12 joints of the robot, thereby achieving the follow-up of the external force. And it has the ability to adapt to external shock interference within a certain amplitude.

Yushu Technology said on the official website that "Laikago does not currently use any artificial intelligence related AI programs."

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How important is the sensor to the robot?

Today's robots possess a sensitive figure, amazing intelligence, and fully automated operation. All of these are similar to human body and sensory functions.

The sensor is like a human's sensory organ, and it is the robot's perception of the world. The robot's perception of the external environment such as vision, force, touch, smell, and taste is transmitted by the sensor.

In addition, the sensor can also be used to detect the robot's own working status, as well as the robot's intelligent detection of the external working environment and object status, and can be converted into a device that can use the output signal according to a certain rule. Various sensors are installed in the robot body structure, which will bring them higher sensitivity.

Well, let's imagine: how much damage to the robot will be caused by losing the sensor?

Robot sensors can be divided into internal sensors and external sensors depending on the detection object.

The internal sensor is mainly used to detect the status of the robot's internal systems, such as the position, speed, acceleration temperature, motor speed, motor load, and battery voltage of each joint, and sends the measured information as feedback information to the controller. Closed-loop control.

The external sensor is used to obtain information about the robot's working objects and the external environment. It is an information channel for the robot to interact with the surroundings and is used to perform sensors such as vision, proximity, touch, and force sense, such as distance measurement and sound. , light and so on.

Slide sensors, force sensors, distance sensors, tactile sensors, proximity sensors, speed and acceleration sensors, vision sensors, and acoustic sensors are very important for robots. It is hard to imagine how the robot would exist without them.

Slide sensor

The sliding sensor is mainly a sensor for detecting the degree of slip between the robot and the gripping object. In order to determine an appropriate grip force value when gripping an object, it is necessary to detect the relative sliding of the contact surface in real time, then determine the grip force, and gradually increase the strength without damaging the object. The glide detection function is necessary to achieve a flexible grip of the robot. condition.

Force sensor

The force sensor is a sensor for detecting the interaction force between the robot's own force and the external environmental force. Force sensors are often installed at the joints of robots and indirectly measure the force by detecting the deformation of the elastomer. The force sensor mounted on the joints of the robot often appears in a fixed three-coordinate format, which is conducive to meeting the requirements of the control system.

distance sensor

Distance sensors used in smart mobile robots include laser rangefinders (including measurable angles), sonar sensors, etc. Lidar sensors developed in recent years are currently the more mainstream ones and can be used for robot navigation and obstacle avoidance.

Touch sensor

The tactile sensor is mainly used in a robot to simulate a tactile function. Tactile sensation is an important sensory function when a person is in direct contact with the external environment. Developing a tactile sensor that meets the requirements is one of the key technologies in robot development.

Proximity sensor

The proximity sensor is located between the tactile sensor and the vision sensor, can measure distance and orientation, and can fuse vision and touch sensor information. The proximity sensor can assist the function of the visual system to determine the orientation and shape of the target object and identify the surface shape thereof.

Speed ​​and acceleration sensors

Speed ​​sensors have two types of translational and rotational speeds, but in most cases they are limited to measuring the speed of rotation. Using the derivative of the displacement, especially the photoelectric method, let the light irradiate the rotating disk, detect the rotation frequency and the number of pulses to obtain the rotation angle, and use the disk to make a gap, and distinguish the angular velocity through two photodiodes, ie, the rotation speed. This is the photoelectric pulse speed sensor.

Vision sensor

Machine vision is a system that enables the robot to have a sensing function. It acquires images through visual sensors and analyzes them, allowing the robot to recognize objects, measure and judge instead of human eyes, and achieve positioning and other functions.

Sound sensor

The sound sensor acts as a microphone (microphone). It is used to receive sound waves and show vibrational images of the sound. However, the intensity of noise cannot be measured. Acoustic sensors are mainly used to sense and interpret sound waves in gas (non-contact sensations), liquids or solids (contact sensations).

In order for robots to be as human-like, the robot's five sensory sensors are indispensable. From the perspective of anthropomorphic functions, vision, force, and touch have entered practical stages, but sensory sensors such as auditory, sense of smell, taste, and glide are still under study.

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