2023 Blue Book on the Development of Autonomous Mobile Robotics (AMR) Industry Released Heavily

2023 Blue Book on the Development of Autonomous Mobile Robotics (AMR) Industry Released Heavily

With the increasing demand for automation and flexibility in the entire process of intelligent manufacturing, autonomous mobile robots (AMR) have rapidly emerged in recent years, becoming a dark horse in the mobile robot race. According to data from the Institute of Advanced Robotics Industry (GGII), the sales of industrial AMRs in the Chinese market increased sharply from 380 units to 17972 units from 2016 to 2022, and the market size increased from 98 million yuan to 2.401 billion yuan, with an annual compound growth rate of over 70%.

Compared to traditional AGVs, AMR utilizes more cutting-edge technologies. But as Yang Xiang, the sales director of Lingdong Technology Automotive, pointed out, users will not pay for advanced technology, they will only pay for technology that can reduce costs and increase efficiency. The ability of AMR autonomous navigation endows them with the ability to independently plan routes in complex environments, making them an automated warehousing and logistics solution without the need for site renovation. They can quickly deploy and land, covering the most labor-intensive work processes, including handling, storage, picking, and sorting.

In addition, AMR can be integrated with other traditional technologies or solutions, such as third-party logistics warehouses that can use both shuttle trucks and AMR to achieve warehouse automation.

Therefore, AMR began to replace traditional magnetic conductive AGVs in large quantities. GGII pointed out that from 2021, the proportion of KIVA like AGVs and magnetic navigation AGVs in the Chinese market began to decline, from 64.42% to 52.58%, while the proportion of AMR and unmanned forklifts began to grow strongly.

The weak doubt the future, while the strong embrace change. Under the fluctuation of downstream industries and the successive entry of giants, the potential track of AMR is undergoing fission and reshaping. How should companies seize the limited opportunities and find their own position? How can incoming players build a "moat" to maintain their advantage in fierce competition?

In order to analyze the current development status of the AMR track and gain insight into future trends, the High Tech Robotics Industry Research Institute (GGII) conducted in-depth research on the entire AMR industry chain, and collaborated with Stantech Robotics, Lingdong Technology, and Yifei Technology to write the "2023 Blue Book for the Development of Autonomous Mobile Robotics (AMR) Industry". The blue book was released on September 19 at the Shanghai International Industrial Expo.

AMR track is full of vitality

Lu Hanchen, Director of the High Tech Robotics Industry Research Institute (GGII), pointed out at the Blue Book press conference that due to the overall growth of orders in the first half of 2023 being less than expected, the growth of mobile robots in the domestic market is weak, with sales reaching nearly 48000 units. Under the influence of the low base in the second quarter of last year, the growth rate was only 26%. Coupled with the serious homogenization of domestic manufacturers' products and the endless price wars, mobile robots have become a red sea.

However, the AMR track is currently full of vitality, and while the proportion of total sales of KIVA and magnetic conductive AGVs in the domestic market has decreased, AMR still maintains growth. According to GGII data, the domestic market AMR sales volume is expected to reach 24000 units in 2023, with a growth rate of about 34%. It is expected that by 2027, the sales volume is expected to exceed 125000 units, and the domestic market size is expected to exceed 14.5 billion yuan. The annual compound growth rate from 2023 to 2027 will exceed 40%.

According to the analysis by Liang Kaixiang, Director of Stander Robotics Products, in the context of continuously high labor costs and difficult recruitment, flexible production requires logistics to adapt to the "small batch, multi batch" model. Therefore, high flexibility flexible logistics has become a trend, and as one of the core equipment to achieve flexible logistics, the demand for AMR in the intelligent manufacturing industry has naturally increased.

Moreover, with the improvement of AMR's product performance and the decrease in cost, its advantages become increasingly prominent, and the replacement speed for magnetic conductive AGVs and KIVA like AGVs will also be faster and faster.

The track has room for growth and will inevitably attract a large number of players to enter.

At present, players in the AMR market are mainly classified into the following four types: traditional AGV manufacturers, comprehensive AGV/AMR manufacturers, industrial AMR manufacturers, and warehousing logistics integrators.

Among them, industrial AMR manufacturers are mainly start-up enterprises, which have focused on the AMR track since its establishment, thus possessing strong technological innovation capabilities, especially at the software algorithm level; These types of enterprises usually choose their own industries to enter early on. With the continuous implementation and application of products in various industries, they are easy to cultivate strong product capabilities and delivery capabilities, and have begun to impact the original market pattern, eyeing the market share of established enterprises.

Representative enterprises in this category include Stander Robotics, Lingdong Technology, and Yifei Technology.

Established in 2016, Stander Robotics is one of the first SLAM technology research and development and commercial application teams in China and the world. It has a deep accumulation in laser SLAM mobile robots and flexible logistics solutions, and therefore has leading advantages in algorithm stability and reliability.

At present, AMR has shipped a total of 6000 units and provided manufacturing services for over 20 million hours; The global business has covered more than ten countries and regions such as Japan and the United States, serving over 100 leading enterprises such as Toyota, NIO, BYD, China Innovation Airlines, Honeycomb Energy, Aixu, and Changdian, achieving large-scale commercial landing.

Lingdong Technology was also established in 2016 as a pioneer and leader in the fourth generation of mobile robots (visual AMR). They are the only global provider of full range, end-to-end, and highly flexible visual AMR solutions that can be deployed on four continents. They focus on the research and development of visual autonomous mobile robots and intelligent robot cluster scheduling systems, providing end-to-end automation solutions for the logistics and manufacturing industries.

At present, the visual AMR solutions provided by Lingdong Technology have covered Asia, the Americas, Australia, and Europe, serving numerous Fortune 500 enterprises. More than 3000 mobile robots have been successfully deployed in over 220 sites, becoming the enterprise with the largest shipment volume, the most industry coverage, and the widest landing scene in the field of third-generation and above mobile robots.

Yifei Mobile Robot is a new force player of AMR, with multiple categories of robots and core components ranging from arm robots to AMR. The self-developed carrier wing series AMR robots now have multiple models, including Camel-600 latent mobile robots, Camel-1000 latent mobile robots, D15-120 small diamond pallet handling forklift mobile robots, F15-4500 handling and stacking mobile robots, and F15S-2000 compact handling and stacking mobile robots. Based on self-developed multi-sensor fusion navigation algorithms and self-developed 2D and 3D visual guidance technology, they comprehensively assist in automated and efficient handling.

Where are the new opportunities?

The track has broad prospects, but the industry reshuffle is accelerating. Under the comprehensive game of multiple factors such as funds, products, technology, channels, applications, and delivery, Chinese AMR robot manufacturers are gradually layering and widening the gap, and market concentration continues to increase. GGII predicts that the CR (10) in 2023 will reach 72.37%.

How to excel in the fiercely competitive track? Participants all believe that analysis should first be conducted from downstream application industries.

Zhang Xu, CEO of Yifei Mobile Robot, believes that the market trend in 2023 is "difficult to place orders, collect payments, and raise funds". Although the overall growth of industrial mobile robots is still ongoing, the demand distribution in segmented industries is uneven. For example, the photovoltaic industry stands out, with order growth exceeding 100% in the first half of the year; The demand in the automotive industry has recovered, while the performance of industries such as e-commerce and 3C has not been satisfactory, with orders in the 3C industry decreasing by 16.8%.

Based on observations and judgments of downstream industries, Lu Hanchen analyzed that in the short to medium term, the structural recovery and cyclical fluctuations of downstream industries will be the new normal. The new energy industry represented by photovoltaic and lithium batteries will continue to lead the demand growth of AMR in the coming years. Therefore, for AMR companies, the "guerrilla" tactics that have been used in different industries in the past may gradually become ineffective, and they need to shift to a "battlefield battle" of deep cultivation and meticulous work on a certain track. How to find their own position and competitive advantage in limited potential industries will be the main topic for most AMR manufacturers.

In addition, going overseas is currently a key measure for companies to find growth opportunities. According to GGII data, there has been a significant increase in demand for mobile robots in the global market after the pandemic. It is expected that by 2027, the global AGV market size is expected to exceed 180 billion yuan, with a compound growth rate of over 45% over the next five years, slightly faster than the domestic market.

And Chinese mobile robots have dominant competitiveness in the global market. Currently, over 60% of the global market for mobile robots comes from Chinese manufacturers, with export orders accounting for 25.87% in 2022 and expected to exceed 30% in 2023. Lu Hanchen said, "If there is any segmented field of Chinese robots that is expected to lead the world, mobile robots may be one of the answers.