During the World Robot Conference, Inspire Robots released a new force control product to attract industry attention, this reporter interviewed Cai Yingpeng, the president of Inspire Robots.

Focus on niche areas

The full name of Inspire Robots is Beijing Inspire Robots Technology Co., LTD., which was founded in May 2016 and is only 3 years old now. It is a typical high-tech innovative enterprise. The company employs more than 20 people and occupies a space on Suzhou Street in Zhongguancun. Its main product is Micro Linear Servo Actuator.

How small is a Micro Linear Servo Actuator? The latest models are about the size of a man's finger. There are many enterprises doing integrated servo system, but few can achieve small volume and with strong perception of commercial grade products, coupled with linear motion mode, at present only due to timing.

        At the show, people familiar with the technology of the robotics industry will wander around the booths of the time to see the technology and product samples they show. Mr. Cai demonstrated the force control ability of the servo driver. With The Dexterous Hands, he could hold a glass of water or even a piece of paper. The weight of the heavy object can reach 3kg at present. The booth is densely lined with various models of product samples, there are side-axis type, coaxial type, side-axis force control type, coaxial force control type, stroke classification of 10mm, 16mm, including standard interface, octagonal interface, lug interface, screw interface, etc. Mr. Cai said that the company's main task now is to constantly improve the product model, continuous iteration of product performance upgrade, to ensure market demand.

Industrialization is the hardest step for a high-tech enterprise startup. For high-tech talents people, the high tech and complex technology is not a problem, the difficult thing is to achieve high technology with reasonable cost performance, to meet the supply requirements of the market. Commercial grade sample products are not scientific research, in addition to technology to meet market requirements, product reliability, durability, and conform to the state of all kinds of related standards are not short of, and the selection of raw materials, manufacturing process design, all kinds of aging test, product waterproof and dustproof prevent electromagnetic ability consideration of complexity and difficulty of the specific work practice as the realization of the technical performance. From the first batch of product users, tracking, checking, improving the product, and constantly iterating and upgrading, so far, Mr. Cai is obviously relieved and can open up to expand production capacity.

Find channel partners

"Our own positioning is core components plus intelligent operation , the current work focus on one is to do more iterations and upgrades in core components, and the other is to find large commercial customers and expand channels. In the segmented field, we are positioned to provide parts and components in the upstream market. Although we feel that the downstream application market is very wide, we will not grab the downstream market by ourselves. Instead, we will look for partners and provide them with corresponding intelligent operation schemes to help them expand their applications in the downstream market." Referring to the downstream market, Mr. Cai said, "In China, the application of the downstream market is still in the early stage, so we need to make efforts with our partners."

In the past time, Inspire Robots has more than 100 partners in service robots, industrial robots, medical rehabilitation robots, educational research and development robots, teleoperation robots and other aspects of good partners, Mr. Cai believes that one of them will be able to run a white horse, tear open the application gap.

In the future, Mr. Cai not only aims at the domestic market, but also focuses on the international stage. Because of the technical advantages and product performance, Mr. Cai is full of confidence, "we have applied for nearly 40 invention patents in China, there are also a number of foreign patents, and more patents will come out next year."

With market growth

The growth of the robot industry is not only the growth of technology, but also the growth of the market. Because of the company's advantage is force control technology, but non force control reducer also has a wide range of applications. Mr. Cai said that for different applications, because of the time to provide different product solutions, the standard version of the product without force control, new products with force control, flexible products need force control. "In use, the company's products from design, materials to control technology, have been strictly tested, normal use, 100,000 times no problem, use at least one year, this is ordinary consumption level. In the future, there will be a long-life series. We will design products that can be used millions of times and have a life span of more than three years according to users' needs."

For display applications, bring force charged with hand can play the piano, catch the ball, take the card, open the refrigerator, water, open for the future application of rich imagination, fetch the dispensary, supermarket, intelligent household, rehabilitation, medical and so on are all foreseeable applications, especially mobile operation and teleoperation is Mr. Cai always very bullish on the market, "inspection robot, for instance, In the past, the door with inductive function can go in, if it is the need to press the button or rotate the handle of the door can not be done. With the addition of force perception control, the inspection robot can really realize inspection function, rather than the previous inspection mainly."

With the development of robot and artificial intelligence technology, the reporter believes that the application of force sensing control will be more and more, and the market will be more and more broad in the future.