Reducing the cost of commercial humanoid robots

As the humanoid robot industry develops rapidly, manufacturers must find ways to reduce costs before their products enter large-scale commercialization

By Lead Leo Research Institute

The recent launch of the Huawei (Shenzhen) Global Life Perception Intelligent Industry Innovation Center brought the commercialization of humanoid robots back into focus again. In fact, despite entering an “explosive period,” the humanoid robot industry is still few steps from large-scale commercialization, held back by high prices that are one of its biggest drags.

There are three ways to cut the cost of humanoid robots, the first of which lies in the process of transforming R&D results into mass production, pointed out Zhang Shiyue, a senior analyst of industrial sectors at LeadLeo Research Institute. The large expenses incurred from R&D and customized development can be effectively lowered through mass production, as enterprises achieve large-scale output.

The second way is through technical cost reductions for both hardware and software. In terms of hardware, extremely high and uneconomical costs due to high R&D requirements can be cut via mass production. Meantime, an adjustment of hardware performance to a more moderate range can also bring down costs. In terms of software, lower dependence on hardware precision with software improvements means that hardware can also achieve high accuracy even with lower precision standards that bring lower costs, again cutting overall costs.

A third way to reduce costs lies in supply chains. Considering the initial high cost of developing humanoid robots, companies in their early stages often prefer overseas suppliers with mature technologies even though prices are lower from local suppliers. However, with more technical tie-ups and the development of local suppliers, the supply chain will shift to the Asia-Pacific region, again lowering costs.

As the R&D process progresses, developers will also gradually shift their supply chains to more local suppliers to reduce costs for mass production, which will naturally benefit local component manufacturers, said Zhang.

Among the key components of humanoid robots, transmission systems account for 40% to 50% of the overall costs. Components of such systems, such as gearboxes, sensors and motors, all play a decisive role in ensuring the smooth and accurate actions of such robots. That is driving an urgent demand for more locally manufactured components and standard parts as the humanoid robot industry rapidly develops, especially with the emergence of various types of robotic brands in China and the launch of the prototype machines. The bottom line is that manufacturers of components such as gearboxes, sensors and motors, are expected to embrace significant market opportunities presented by these companies.

LeadLeo Research Institute is an original content platform for research on banks and companies and an innovative digital research service provider with nearly 100 senior analysts. You can contact the platform at CS@leadleo.com.

This article was originally published on CLS.CN by Lu Tingting.

This commentary is the views of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Bamboo Works

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