Jinhua Blue Ocean Optoelectronic Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Blue Ocean Optoelectronics") is a high-tech enterprise, since 2006, focusing on pulsed laser ranging application research, based on its mature technology accumulation, Blue Ocean Optoelectronics began to enter the field of AGV, and targeted launched a series of products.
Focus on TOF technology, industrialization ability is outstanding
Before entering the AGV industry, Blue Ocean Optoelectronics' lidar has been widely used in the service robot market, and its market share ranks the forefront of the industry.
In the field of AGV, compared with other enterprises, Blue Ocean Optoelectronics has not entered this market for a long time, but Fan Yiqun, chairman of Blue Ocean Optoelectronics, believes: "Although the application field is new, but the technology is mature, since the establishment of the company, we have begun to focus on the research and development of TOF technology, after more than ten years of development, it can be said that there has been a very deep accumulation in TOF technology." ”
TOF is an abbreviation for Time of Flight, the time-of-flight ranging method. The laser module in the lidar emits a modulated pulsed laser, reflects after encountering an object, and calculates the time difference or phase difference between laser emission and reception to convert the relative distance of the measured object, ANDF ranging has the advantages of high accuracy, long distance measurement and fast response. At present, in AGV/AMR, service robots, low-speed logistics vehicles, security, etc., with the continuous reduction of toF lidar costs and the continuous improvement of technology, the application potential is huge.
Blue Ocean Optoelectronics has been deeply cultivating TOF technology for many years and has mature technology industrialization capabilities. Fan Yiqun believes that in the field of lidar, the ability of technology industrialization is the key to the large-scale mass production of lidar, and it is also the premise of ensuring product consistency and stability.
Blue Ocean Optoelectronics realizes the standardized production of products in three aspects: one is product design, the other is the standardization of production equipment and production line design; the third is the control of the supply chain. Fan Yiqun said that based on these three points, Blue Ocean Optoelectronics has realized the large-scale mass production of lidar and also ensured the consistency and stability of products to the greatest extent, and improved the yield rate.
The realization of large-scale mass production means that enterprises have the ability to supply in batches, and at the same time, the cost of products can be further reduced. Therefore, the current series of blue ocean optoelectronics products are also very advantageous in terms of price. "Under the premise of ensuring quality, industry customers are still very sensitive to price, and we also hope that through the advantages of industrialization, the cost of lidar can be further reduced in the future." Fan Yiqun said.
Entered the AGV industry and launched a wide range of products
Based on the deep accumulation of TOF technology and the ability of technology industrialization, in 2020, Blue Ocean Optoelectronics began to officially enter the field of AGV.
Fan Yiqun introduced: "Before 2020, we were in a wait-and-see state of the AGV market, because at that time we felt that the relevant applications were not mature, the market size was not large, and the development of the epidemic in 2020 made everyone see the advantages of robot handling and picking, and the development of the AGV industry was more mature, so we thought that this was a better time to enter the market." ”
Since 2020, Blue Ocean Optoelectronics has begun to make relevant layouts for the AGV market, and has launched a series of targeted products for different application needs. "We are different from companies that generally focus on one or two products, and we will be more abundant in terms of models, because we believe that the needs of different customers in this industry are still different, so we also hope to provide customers with more choice."
At present, for the field of AGV, Blue Ocean mainly has LDS, lES and LSS series products. LDS series has the advantages of 360 ° all-round laser scanning detection, high precision, high anti-interference, according to the distance of obstacles or intrusions in the scanning area, giving AGV different alarm signals, etc., can accurately navigate and avoid obstacles, and protect the safety of on-site personnel or AGV cars. Compared with the LDS series, the LSS series has higher protection, excellent performance can provide a very perfect early warning and obstacle avoidance solution for AGV collision avoidance warning, and users can freely set different alarm areas according to the actual use environment.
The LES series is a new product of Blue Ocean this year, and it will also be officially introduced to the market next. Fan Yiqun introduced: "LeS series is a new generation of TOF single-wire pulsed lidar, scanning frequency of 25Hz, can meet the needs of the current increasing speed of AGVs. ”
At present, Blue Ocean Optoelectronics for the AGV field of series of products to single-line 2D laser-based, single-line radar can help robots avoid obstacles, its scanning speed is fast, strong resolution, high reliability, compared to multi-line lidar, single-line lidar in the angular frequency and sensitivity of the response is faster, so in the test of the surrounding obstacles the distance and accuracy are more accurate. However, single-line radar can only be flat scanning, can not measure the height of the object, and does not have the function of 3D modeling, some special industrial scenarios in the AGV will sometimes need to collect the height information of the object, some manufacturers will choose the visual sensor fusion method, and some manufacturers may join a multi-line lidar.
In response to the needs of special industrial scenarios, Blue Ocean Optoelectronics also plans to launch multi-line products, Fan Yiqun believes that the product should be guided by market demand, which is also the market principle that Blue Ocean Optoelectronics has always adhered to, "Multi-line lidar has richer data, more suitable for complex industrial environments, at present we will give priority to the development of 4-line and 8-line these two multi-line lidar products, it is expected that there will be related products next year to meet with you." ”
In addition to multi-line products, in the solid-state lidar blue ocean optoelectronics also made technical reserves, "solid-state products will certainly be the trend of the future industry, but at present, solid-state lidar in terms of performance and cost have not reached a mature state, we currently have some investment in solid-state technology research and development, and when the technology is really mature, it will also launch corresponding products according to market demand." Fan Yiqun said.
From laser rangefinder to lidar, from service robots to industrial AGVs, Blue Ocean Optoelectronics allows us to see the continuous breakthrough and growth of domestic parts manufacturers, in the future, we look forward to Blue Ocean Optoelectronics can bring more competitive products to help realize the core supply chain of AGV.