In developed countries, complete sets of equipment for industrial robot automation production lines have become the mainstream and future development direction of automation equipment. The automotive industry, electronic and electrical industry, engineering machinery and other industries abroad have used a large number of industrial robot automated production lines to ensure product quality, improve production efficiency, and avoid a large number of industrial accidents. The practice of using industrial robots in many countries around the world for nearly half a century has shown that the popularization of industrial robots is an effective means to achieve automated production, improve social production efficiency, and promote the development of enterprise and social productivity.

Robot technology is a forward-looking and strategic high-tech field. Scientists from the International Association of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) have proposed four key development directions in predicting the future direction of science and technology, and robot technology is one of them.

In October 1990, international roboticists held a conference on international standards for industrial robots in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. At the conference, a document was adopted that divided industrial robots into four categories: ⑴ Sequential type. This type of robot has a prescribed program action control system; ⑵ Working along a trajectory. This type of robot performs certain mobile tasks, such as welding. Painting, etc.; ⑶ Remote operation type. For example, robots that work automatically on the moon; ⑷ intelligent. This type of robot has the functions of perception, adaptation, thinking, and man-machine communication.

Japan's industrial robot industry has already popularized the first and second types of industrial robots as early as the 1990s, and reached the peak of its industrial robot development history. Now, we have made remarkable achievements in the development of industrial robots in the third and fourth categories. The development priorities of Japan's next generation robots include low-cost technology, high-speed technology, small and lightweight technology, reliability improvement technology, computer control technology, networking technology, high-precision technology, sensor technology such as vision and touch, etc.

According to a plan designated by the Japanese government in 2007, Japan's industrial robot industry will reach 1.4 trillion yen in 2050, with a million industrial robots. According to the standard that one industrial robot is equivalent to 10 labor forces, one million industrial robots are equivalent to ten million labor forces, accounting for 15% of the current total labor force in Japan.

Industrial robots in China started in the early 1970s, and their development process can be roughly divided into three stages: the embryonic stage in the 1970s; The development period of the 1980s; The practical period of the 1990s. Now, after more than 20 years of development, it has begun to take shape. Currently, China has produced some key robot components, and developed industrial robots such as arc welding, spot welding, palletizing, assembly, handling, injection molding, stamping, and painting. A batch of domestic industrial robots have served the production lines of many domestic enterprises; A group of robot technology research talents have also emerged. Some relevant scientific research institutions and enterprises have mastered the optimization design and manufacturing technology of industrial robot manipulators; Hardware design technology for control and drive systems of industrial robots; Design and programming technology of robot software; Kinematics and trajectory planning techniques; Development and preparation technology of arc welding, spot welding, and large-scale robotic automatic production lines and peripheral supporting equipment. Some key technologies have reached or approached world level.

To introduce high technology and transform it into industrial technology (industrialization), a country must have five elements, namely, 5M: Machine/Materials/Manpower/Management/Market. Compared with Japan, which is known as the "kingdom of robots", China has a fundamentally different national situation, that is, a large population and a surplus labor force. The fundamental motivation for stimulating the development of industrial robots in Japan lies in addressing the serious shortage of labor. Therefore, industrial robots in China started late and developed slowly. However, as mentioned earlier, the widespread use of robots is a very important way to achieve industrial automation and improve social production efficiency. China is striving to develop the industrial robot industry, introduce foreign technology and equipment, cultivate talents, and open up the market. The glory of Japan's industrial robot industry is due to the encouragement policies of its own government, and China has also demonstrated strong support for the development of industrial robots in the 11th Five Year Plan.

Development trend

Currently, various standard components have been developed and produced abroad, while China, as the main production country of industrial robots in the future, the standardization process is the development trend.

China's manufacturing industry is facing the huge challenge of transforming to high-end, undertaking international advanced manufacturing, and participating in international division of labor. Accelerating the research, development and production of industrial robot technology is the main way for China to seize this historical opportunity. Therefore, the development of China's industrial robot industry needs to be further implemented: First, industrial robot technology is the main means and path for China to transform from a manufacturing power to a manufacturing power. The government should provide more policy and economic support for domestic industrial robots, reference advanced foreign experience, and increase technical investment and transformation; Secondly, in the national science and technology development plan, we should continue to provide strong support for the research, development, and application of intelligent robots, forming a new situation in which products and automated manufacturing equipment are synchronized and coordinated; Third, the quality of some domestic industrial robots has already been comparable to that of foreign countries. Enterprises should not blindly import industrial robots, but should comprehensively evaluate and base themselves on domestic production.

Intelligence and bionics are the highest stages of industrial robots. With the continuous development of materials, control, and other technologies, laboratory products are becoming more and more product-based and gradually applied to various occasions. With the development of the mobile Internet and the Internet of Things, more and more precision industrial robots with multiple sensors and distributed control will gradually penetrate all aspects of the manufacturing industry, and transform from a manufacturing implementation type to a service type.

The areas where industrial robots were first used on a large scale will emerge from today's developed regions. With the progress of industrial transfer, the manufacturing industry in developed regions needs to be improved. Based on the reality of increasing worker costs, the application of industrial robots has become the best alternative. In the future, the large-scale application of industrial robots in China will be concentrated in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Beijing, and other places, with the ownership of industrial robots accounting for more than half of the country.

The growing industrial robot market and its huge market potential have attracted the attention of world-renowned robot manufacturers. Currently, China's imported industrial robots mainly come from Japan, but with the continuous emergence of enterprises with proprietary intellectual property rights such as "robots", more and more industrial robots will be made in China.