Unified mobile robot communication interface standards are the needs of the entire industry, which is an unstoppable development direction.
Wen | the STANDARD Committee of the CMR Industry Alliance
With the continuous development of industrial technology, the development process of China's robots, especially mobile robots (AGV/AMR), is from scratch, from weak to strong; from the first AGV in 1991 to the official landing, to now it has been 31 years. From warehouse handling to manufacturing production line mobile robot application scenarios are fully rolled out, according to cmR industry alliance statistics, 72,000 new mobile robots will be added in all walks of life in 2021. Whether from technology to market, China's mobile robots have occupied a certain right to speak in the world.
The growth of the industry has also emerged new problems, when an application scenario may require multi-type multi-brand products to work together, each supplier has its own specific scheduling management software, application manufacturers in the coordination work with each supplier, not only need to spend a lot of manpower and material input in the early stage, and poor interoperability in use, but also encounter a series of problems such as later maintenance costs.
Image source: Yiwu Technology
According to the feedback of application manufacturers and the alliance's research on the needs of manufacturers, promoting multi-machine collaboration and multi-brand scheduling has become the general trend of industry development, and it is also the key to The future of China's mobile robots to stand out in the competition of many mobile robot brands in the world, and it is also a key breakthrough for China's mobile robots to grasp the discourse power of global mobile robots.
Europe has published the relevant standard VDA 5050 communication interface standard in 2021. This standard involves communication between AGV (in German Fahrerloser Transportsysteme/Transportfahrzeuge (FTS) and master control (in other words, fleet management software program).
Zhang Lei, chairman of the CMR Industry Alliance, said: Germany's VDA5050 standard mainly reflects the needs of customers. Customers always want to have control over all AGV products and systems, whether for cars or systems, and they want to be available from multiple suppliers and interchangeable with each other. Of course, this is difficult for many mobile robot suppliers, the main reason is that the technical route used by various manufacturers is not consistent, if implemented according to this standard, many manufacturers are bound to need to adjust their technical routes; from another point of view, this standard moves some suppliers' cheese in a certain program, so not all suppliers are willing to support this standard. But in any case, the unified mobile robot communication interface standard is the demand of the entire industry, which is the direction of development that cannot be stopped. From the perspective of the alliance, VDA5050 is a standard from Germany, while the Chinese market actually has its own different characteristics. Therefore, what kind of communication interface standards are needed in China's mobile robot industry requires serious and careful consideration by industry experts.
Zhang Lei believes that the alliance initiated the formulation of relevant standards, which not only needs to be in line with the general direction of the development of the industry, but also in-depth combination with China's national conditions, and cannot be standards for the sake of standards. Therefore, I suggest that relevant domestic manufacturers should conduct in-depth research and discussion, on the one hand, learn the advanced technical concepts in foreign standards, and at the same time, boldly innovate in combination with China's national conditions, and finally formulate Chinese standards with international advanced level and truly suitable for China's mobile robot industry.
Yang Wenhua, director of the Standard Committee of the CMR Industry Alliance, also said that the standardization and unification of the interface between the AGV stand-alone machine and the upper-level control system can effectively promote the healthy and stable development of the industry, save social costs, and reduce project risks. To this end, the Alliance should develop more detailed and feasible industry or group standards as soon as possible.
In 2022, cmR industry alliance will work with many upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry to jointly formulate the "Specification for the Data Interface between Industrial Application Mobile Robots and Their Scheduling Systems" (proposed name), and the enterprises that have been identified as participating are (the following rankings are not in particular):
Shenyang Siasun Robot Automation Co., Ltd., Yunnan Kunchuan Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd., Hangzhou Yiwu Technology Co., Ltd., Machinery Development Technology Co., Ltd., FareiLanda Technology (Wuhan) Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Jiashun Intelligent Robot Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Hangcha Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., Huaxiao Precision Industry (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., Qingdao Haitong Robot System Co., Ltd., Haier Industrial Intelligence Research Institute, Hangzhou Lanxin Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai Xiangong Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., Changchun Volkswagen Logistics Assembly Co., Ltd., Shared Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd., ZTE Corporation, Shenzhen Youai Zhihe Robot Technology Co., Ltd., Hubei Sanfeng Robot Co., Ltd., Heli Industrial Vehicle (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
The standard for formulating the interface specification of mobile robots and their scheduling systems is not only the need of customers but also the needs of industry development. The alliance will work with a large number of end users to develop the interface standards that the industry really needs.