Exoskeleton robot melee: Chengtian Technology does 'deep', Fourier Intelligence does 'broad'

The accompanying pictures are from Canva

After a long period of exploration, the application scope of skeletal robots at home and abroad is becoming more and more extensive, covering military, medical, industrial, logistics and other fields, and the commercialization model is becoming increasingly clear. The vast market demand has given birth to many industry unicorns, attracting many technology manufacturers and start-ups from home and abroad, making the exoskeleton robot market hot

Exoskeleton robots can be found in everything from health care hospitals to large factories and large sports events. For example: At this year's Hangzhou Asian Games, Aosha Intelligent BES-HV waist exoskeleton robot was used to carry large goods, with a maximum assist of 35kg, a comprehensive load reduction of more than 60%, and a maximum assist speed of 7.5km/h

The commercial application range of exoskeleton robots is becoming more and more extensive, and the speed of industrial development is accelerating. As exoskeleton robots further penetrate into the B-end segment and open up the C-end market, they will bring benefits to pioneers in more industries such as Chengtian Technology and Fourier Intelligence, and will also attract more capital investment

Exoskeleton robots are getting better

As one of the primary focuses of investors’ attention, investment in exoskeleton robots is showing an upward trend.

In 2022, the number of investment and financing projects in China’s exoskeleton robot industry will reach a new high. In 2023, perhaps based on comprehensive considerations of technological prospects, market demand, innovation capabilities, business models and other factors, capital parties will still choose to continue investing in exoskeleton robot manufacturers.

Maibao Intelligent Technology, Aosha Intelligent Technology, and Chengtian Technology have successively received good news of obtaining financing. Rewritten content: Maibao Intelligent Technology, Aosha Intelligent Technology and Chengtian Technology all announced that they have successfully obtained financing

In May, Maibao Intelligent Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. received tens of millions of yuan in Series A financing. This round of financing will be used to expand product series, reduce product costs, explore consumer application models, and broaden the company’s Business Scope.

In August, Shanghai Aosha Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. announced the completion of Series A financing. The amount of this round of financing will be used to enhance the core technology of the company’s exoskeleton products, accelerate the iterative upgrade of core products and new product research and development, and improve the team structure and products. Marketing.

Chengtian Technology completed a new round of financing in October. After the completion of this round of financing, the company plans to introduce R&D and marketing talents globally, and continue to cooperate with international research institutions and clinical institutions to promote the exoskeleton technology platform based on the RaaS (Rehabilitation as a Service) model

It can be seen that Maibao Intelligent Technology, Aosha Intelligent Technology and Chengtian Technology all plan to use financing funds for technology research and development, product production and new scenario expansion. This is undoubtedly done to continue innovation, improve competitiveness and expand market share, which illustrates the fierce competition in the exoskeleton robot market

The interaction of factors such as technological advancement, wide range of application fields, and growth in market demand has led investors to see the huge potential of the exoskeleton robot market and are willing to provide financial support for it. This has further promoted the development of the exoskeleton robot industry. Robot manufacturers such as Chengtian Technology and Fourier Intelligence are actively preparing to "start again"

Chengtian Technology "accumulates and makes progress"

As everyone in the industry knows, Chengtian Technology mainly focuses on developing exoskeleton robot technology, including core algorithms and components, and provides intelligent products and solutions for medical and health care institutions and individual users. However, few people know that before entering the exoskeleton robot market, Chengtian Technology’s R&D team also worked on multiple projects such as inspection robots and water seal culvert inspection robots. Unfortunately, these projects did not achieve great success

As the saying goes: "Choice is greater than effort" is not unreasonable. The right choice can bring greater opportunities and better development space. The Chengtian Technology team has insight into the market demand and chooses to focus on exoskeleton robots. The robot entrepreneur stood out and received investment from the international venture capital company Pappas Capital, which was regarded as a staged victory.

The reason why Chengtian Technology has been able to rise strongly, in addition to luck, is that they have mastered the core secret of becoming bigger and stronger, that is, having strong product power

In terms of products, Chengtian Technology focuses on polishing products and uses high-quality, high-quality products to help more disabled patients recover their sports abilities. For example: UGO, an exoskeleton robot suitable for central nervous system diseases (hemiplegia, paraplegia, cerebral palsy, etc.), children's exoskeleton product "KidGo", GOGO power-assisted exoskeleton, etc.

The target users of exoskeleton robots (rehabilitation field) are people with hemiplegia, paraplegia, disabled elderly people, etc., who have high requirements for the accuracy and efficiency of auxiliary tools. To this end, Chengtian Technology has developed three business lines to provide refined services for rehabilitation treatment scenarios, people with no ability to take care of themselves, and mobility compensation scenarios.

In terms of technology research and development, Chengtian Technology has established a professional R&D team to achieve 100% self-research and production of core components such as joint modules, sensors, and reducers, which enables them to provide advanced , high-performance exoskeleton robot products to maintain product competitiveness.

Technology is the primary productive force. Chengtian Technology’s continuous technological innovation can continuously improve product performance and functions and maintain the company’s leading position. It is understood that Chengtian Technology has independently applied for more than 500 intellectual property rights, authorized more than 300 items, and won the China Patent Silver Award in 2023.

In terms of channel layout, Chengtian Technology not only launched the RaaS (Rehabilitation as a Service) concept and promoted exoskeleton technology to professional rehabilitation institutions (B-end market), but also actively deployed in the C-end market to provide leasing Services, creating a complete B-side and C-side elderly care and rehabilitation system, broadening the commercialization space.

According to official data from Chengtian Technology, “In the past two years, Chengtian Technology has entered more than 560 rehabilitation centers, Disabled Persons’ Federation institutions and hospitals, covering more than 92% of provincial administrative regions across the country, and has served more than 300,000 people in total. .”

However, the high cost and high selling price are still the limiting factors for the popularity of exoskeleton robots. Even though Chengtian Technology proposed the concept of "rehabilitation as a service" and put exoskeleton robots into rehabilitation hospitals at all levels to obtain income through leasing, many sick families still find it difficult to pay the monthly rental fee of about 1,000 yuan.

Chengtian Technology has established a competitive advantage by relying on technological leadership, good user experience, high quality and reliability, and excellent services. However, commercialization still faces many challenges, and the road to double revenue and net profit growth is long and arduous.

Fourier Intelligence "Seeking progress while maintaining stability"

Like Chengtian Technology, Fourier Intelligence has been deeply involved in exoskeleton robots (medical field) for many years. It was the first to release the first commercial lower-limb exoskeleton robot in China. Its core rehabilitation robots have also entered large-scale applications and are the leader in the field of domestic intelligent rehabilitation. Leader.

The rapid development of Fourier Intelligence cannot be separated from the fueling of capital behind it. Since its establishment in 2015, Fourier Intelligence has received multiple rounds of investment from Guozhong Venture Capital, IDG Capital and other institutions; in January 2022, Fourier Intelligence announced the completion of a 400 million yuan D round of financing, setting the highest single-round financing amount in the history of this field in China at that time record.

The importance of Fourier Intelligence is to transform "first-mover technology" into "first-mover advantage" and give full play to this advantage to maintain the leadership in the industry by continuously developing new technologies, developing new scenarios, and building new channels. Status

First of all, Fourier Intelligence has the courage to explore the blank market for exoskeleton robots. In 2015, the domestic exoskeleton robot market was relatively blank. At that time, technical and market conditions such as robot movement capabilities and AI algorithms were not yet mature. The development of domestic exoskeletons mainly relied on the research resources of universities, and commercialization can be said to be in the " "No Man's Land" stage.

Under this circumstance, the Fourier Intelligence team has devoted itself to the product research and development of exoskeleton robots. It has successively launched more than 30 products such as upper limb rehabilitation robots and lower limb exoskeleton robots, and successfully commercialized them. . Although Fourier Intelligence is not the "first experimenter" in the field of domestic exoskeleton robots, through unremitting efforts, they have indeed gained rewards in the market

Secondly, Fourier Intelligence is diligent in self-researching core hardware and technologies to build a technological moat. It is understood that Fourier Intelligence has invested more than 500 million yuan in R&D, with R&D investment accounting for more than 30% of revenue. It has applied for nearly 200 intellectual property rights, 30 authorized invention patents, and 29 utility model patents, mainly focusing on robotic machinery. Electronic technology, hardware control technology, intelligent software technology and other technical fields.

You must know that the research on exoskeleton robots originated abroad. More than ten years ago, the core technology of this product was basically monopolized by overseas players. Fourier Intelligence independently developed cores such as force feedback technology platform, multi-joint robot motion control card, and multi-dimensional force sensors. Technology and components break through technical limitations to bring innovation and progress to the market, and also enhance product competitiveness.

Thirdly, Fourier Intelligence focuses on market expansion, has built a rich product line, and created global sales channels. Fourier Intelligence not only has technical advantages, but also has strong marketing capabilities. The robot products it has developed have been exported to dozens of countries and regions and settled in more than 1,000 institutions at home and abroad.

It is worth mentioning that Fourier Intelligence has changed its focus on dedicated rehabilitation robots and turned to building a general robot technology platform. By accumulating the core technology of exoskeleton robots, they have successfully developed a general-purpose robot and are on the road to commercialization. In September this year, Fourier Intelligence began to pre-sell the general-purpose humanoid robot GR-1. The robot can be used in scientific research and education, artificial intelligence embodiment, performing arts exhibitions, medical rehabilitation, security inspections, welcome reception and other fields

It has to be said that Fourier Intelligence has completed the early technology accumulation, product production and sales. How to continue to expand application scenarios, achieving commercial scale growth is its biggest challenge.

Commercialization accelerates and the competitive landscape enters a new stage

Market demand is strong, favorable policies are emerging one after another, and capital investment is heating up. The exoskeleton robot industry enjoys multiple benefits and its development prospects are relatively bright.

According to data from MileBot, China's exoskeleton robot market size has grown from 30 million yuan in 2016 to 440 million yuan in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 76% in 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of 171.19%. It is expected that by 2025, China’s exoskeleton robot market will reach 4.2 billion yuan

As the exoskeleton robot industry matures, companies such as Fourier Intelligence and Chengtian Technology prioritize the development and layout of the exoskeleton robot industry and are expected to achieve significant growth

First of all, The threshold for manufacturing exoskeleton robots has been lowered, and the average price has shown a downward trend. The optimization of manufacturing processes and the reduction of material costs have attracted more companies to participate in the manufacturing of exoskeleton robots. They provide open software and hardware platforms and development toolkits, making the manufacturing process of exoskeleton robots more simplified and standardized. The difficulty of large-scale mass production has been greatly reduced.

Exoskeleton robot technology continues to innovate and improve, promoting the rapid development of the industry. As we all know, the capital investment boom has spawned a number of star companies, such as Fourier Intelligence and Chengtian Technology. These companies continue to invest the financing they received into technology research and development to solve problems in human-computer interaction, mechanical structure, control, driving methods, etc., forming a healthy competition and promoting the upgrading of the industry

Furthermore, exoskeleton robots have a wide range of applications, strong market demand, and high market sentiment. In the medical field, exoskeleton robots can help disabled people regain their mobility; in the manufacturing field, they can enhance workers' strength and endurance and improve production efficiency...

The emergence of multiple application scenarios will promote the rapid development of the exoskeleton robot market. According to data, by 2022, China's output of exoskeleton robots will be approximately 914 sets, and demand will be approximately 265 sets. Among them, the demand in military and other fields is relatively strong, accounting for 70.84%, while rehabilitation exoskeleton robots account for 29.15%

In the future, the industries and categories penetrated by exoskeleton robots will continue to expand, covering more application scenarios. The competition between exoskeleton robot companies such as Fourier Intelligence and Chengtian Technology will undoubtedly become particularly fierce.

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