At the end of October 2021, that is, before the “Double 11”, a seemingly small but potentially far-reaching event occurred in the domestic service robot industry. This is the T7S Plus automatic dust collecting and sweeping robot from Roborock Technology, which has obtained the “China Robot Product CR Certification”.
Some friends may wonder, what certification program is this, and why I have never heard of it before. Why does Roborock’s sweeping and dragging robot have an impact ON the industry when they get this certificate? Don’t worry, just listen to us slowly.
The “national certification” of the robot industry has a lot of meaning behind it
The full name of CR certification is “National Robot Product Certification”. In the spirit of the document, a certification project was released and implemented on September 30, 2020 under the goal of enhancing the international competitiveness of China’s robot products, promoting the progress of the robot industry, and regulating the healthy and orderly development of the industry.
As a “national” brand industry certification system jointly promoted by the four ministries and commissions, “China Robot Product Certification” has formulated well-documented standards for different types and different uses of robot products. Taking the sweeping robot as an example, the corresponding “General Technical Specification for Sweeping Robot” (hereinafter referred to as the “Specification”) not only has clear standard requirements for product safety, anti-fall ability, automatic charging function, etc. At the same time, the “Specifications” specifically classify the sweeping and dust removal effects, path planning capabilities, battery life, ability to cross obstacles, and working noise of the sweeping robots, which are the indicators consumers are most concerned about, and formulate scientific, Rigorous testing methods.
In fact, the greatest significance of CR certification is that it sets a “national standard” for the actual consumer experience of various robot products on the market through detailed, scientific, and reproducible test methods and certification indicators. This will help to break the current disordered situation of service robot industry manufacturers in product promotion and performance index labeling, so that products with high quality, advanced technology and excellent experience can be endorsed by the “national brand”. And this will not only bring a reliable and authoritative reference for consumers to buy, but also will affect the entire industry’s attention to the technical content and actual performance of products, thus promoting the robot industry to “quality”, “technology-based” Wang” is progressing in the right direction.
The first stone technology to “eat crabs”, product strength is the greatest confidence
It is not difficult to see that “CR certification” has a huge potential influence of “setting things right” for the entire service robot industry, or for the field of sweeping robots. But on the other hand, the special background of its “national brand name”, coupled with the objective situation that the technical standard is a new solution that has just been released in 2020, are destined to be “CR certification” for most products on the market today. In other words, it may be an overly rigorous test.
So, why did Roborock Technology let its T7S Plus participate in the “CR certification” test? Looking at the product itself, it is not difficult to find that a large number of original technologies and advanced configurations far ahead of the industry average may be the foundation of Stone Technology.
For example, on the T7S Plus, Roborock Technology uses a series of configurations including lidar, ultrasonic sensors, carpet sensors, collision sensors, and structured light sensors to achieve indoor mapping, automatic carpet recognition, accurate obstacle avoidance and prevention. drop function. Among them, lidar still belongs to the iconic feature of high-end products in the current sweeping robot industry, but it is the “standard” that Roborock Technology has insisted on since its first generation of products.
Not only that, in terms of key obstacle avoidance sensors, Roborock Technology has successively explored various technical solutions including ultrasonic sensors, binocular AI vision cameras, structured light sensors, etc., in the diversification of obstacle avoidance solutions and the accumulation of obstacle avoidance algorithms. It is at the leading level in the industry.
At the same time, in terms of the key “cleaning ability” of the sweeping robot, Roborock Technology has designed a lot of “black technology” for the T7S Plus. For example, its iconic sonic mopping system can not only achieve 3,000 times per minute of active mop vibration mopping, on the other hand, the unique lifting structure can press the mop against the ground when mopping, and at the same time after cleaning. The mop is automatically raised, which effectively solves the common problems of similar products such as the ground soaking and the mop not drying.
Not to mention that inside the optional dust collecting base of the T7S Plus, Roborock’s engineers directly used the multi-cone cyclone structure derived from its own wireless vacuum cleaner. Compared with the common vacuum pipes in the industry, this original design realizes the “long-term suction power does not decay” when the sweeping robot automatically collects dust, and “even when the dust bucket is almost full, it can still effectively separate the dust and gas”. The experience has greatly improved the reliability of the automatic dust collection function of the sweeping robot, which can be said to bring new ideas of product design to the entire industry.
Of course, friends who follow Roborock Technology may know that although the T7S Plus is a flagship smart sweeping and dragging robot product even now. But it is impossible for Roborock Technology to stop innovating. Just in August this year, Roborock Technology launched two new products, the self-cleaning sweeping and mopping robot G10 and the intelligent double-scrub floor scrubber U10. Compared with similar products in the industry, these two new annual flagships also once again reflect the heritage of Stone Technology in original technology research and development and product design.
For example, on the G10, you can see the unique details such as the lift-type sonic mopping design, the re-evolved laser mapping and navigation system, and the multi-functional charging stand that can automatically clean the mop and automatically replenish the water tank. The original “contra-rotating double roller brush” structure on the U10 not only doubles the floor cleaning ability of the scrubber, but also solves the problem of “difficult to clean the corners of the floor” and “easy to leave water marks on the ground” of similar products. “, “Insufficient ability to clean solid dirt” and other shortcomings, once again established the experience benchmark of intelligent cleaning equipment.
The latest financial report revealed key information, and the goal of Stone Technology has been looking into the distance
Why does Stone Technology always have fantastic ideas and product designs that surpass the industry standard? The answer to this question can actually be found in the third quarter 2021 financial report they just announced a few days ago.
According to the data released in this financial report, in the first three quarters of 2021, Stone Technology has invested a total of 311 million yuan in research and development, accounting for 8.13% of its operating income, an increase of 80.07% over the same period last year. In the third quarter, the R&D investment was as high as 112 million yuan, a substantial increase of 65.10% year-on-year.
At the same time, in terms of the personnel composition of the entire enterprise, Stone Technology is very obviously “R&D-centered”. As of the first quarter of 2021, the number of R&D personnel in the company reached 464, accounting for 58.64% of all employees. These R&D personnel are distributed in Stone Technology’s product R&D centers, optoelectronics research institutes, AI artificial intelligence research institutes, and electromechanical research institutes in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Changsha, and even overseas. It is also their unremitting efforts that have allowed Roborock Technology to have a rich technical accumulation from the “basic”, which can more easily achieve long-term product experience leadership, and further expand the “battlefield” of its product lines.
In this financial report, Roborock Technology also disclosed a noteworthy detail, that is, they have successfully completed the trial production of commercial robot products and completed on-site testing with multiple customers. In the future, these commercial robots will provide efficient cleaning services for shopping malls, large supermarkets, office buildings and other places under the control of the stone commercial management system and the corresponding mobile APP. And more importantly, a group of stone commercial robots have already been adopted by the Beijing Winter Olympics venues, and will be officially “on duty” at the Water Cube in October 2021.
This means that during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in the near future, audiences from around the world may see Roborock commercial robots automatically cleaning the venues. And this also means that Stone Technology, which has only been in business for seven years and has been listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board for more than a year, is likely to have taken a key step in their next leapfrog development.
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