In 1954, American Dwell first proposed the concept of industrial robot and applied for a patent. The key of the patent is to control the joints of the robot with the help of servo technology, use human hands to teach the robot, and the robot can complete the recording and reproduction of actions. This is the so-called teaching and playback robot. Almost all existing robots use this control method.
　　In 1959, the first industrial robot of UNIMATION was born in the United States, which ushered in a new era of robot development. Its mechanical structure has also become a template for career. After that, UNIMATION was acquired by STAUBLI of Switzerland and further improved by taking advantage of STAUBLI's technical advantages. The first robot in Japan was imported from UNIMATION by KAWASAKI, and was imitated and improved by Kawasaki in China.
　　Industrial robot is a kind of multi degree of freedom robot applied in industry. The industrial chain of industrial robots is mainly composed of upstream central parts, midstream industrial robot body assembly and downstream system integration. The manipulator, servo system and fine reducer are the most important central parts of the robot.
　　The industrial robot industry is of vital importance to China. The space of shopping malls in the upstream, middle and downstream of the entire industrial chain is up to 100 billion yuan, and the application scope is wide in various sub categories of manufacturing industry. It is of great significance to the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry and the rapid development of other industries.
　　In the industrial robot industry chain, the technical center and difficulties are concentrated in the upstream manufacturers, that is, the production of central parts, and the cost and profit are also concentrated in this category. The cost of central parts accounts for more than 70% of the entire robot body. Therefore, whoever masters the production technology and capacity of central parts will occupy the highest point of the robot industry, with high pricing power.
　　At present, in China's industrial robot market, the supply of upstream central parts is basically occupied by foreign manufacturers. Most domestic manufacturers focus on the assembly of robot bodies in the middle reaches and the system integration in the downstream, undertaking low value-added operations such as system secondary development, customized parts and after-sales service, which makes the industrial dividends brought by the huge potential of domestic robot market occupied by foreign manufacturers.
　　Foreign industrial robot giants are suppliers of central components themselves, so they have inherent cost advantages and technical advantages in terms of component costs. In addition, they can often obtain more favorable purchase prices with huge purchase volume and exclusive agreements. When importing central components, domestic SMEs often purchase reducers at nearly three times higher prices than foreign manufacturers, Purchase servo motors at nearly twice the price.
　　Cost composition of industrial robots and gross profit rate of the industrial chain. Data source: open data, intelligent research consultation and sorting. With the development of China's manufacturing industry, especially the rapid development of car and car parts manufacturing industry and motorcycle industry, the assembly volume of industrial robots will rise steadily. In addition, the expansion of China's construction industry, mining industry, railway and public construction, hydraulic engineering construction and construction machinery, and construction machinery market will also promote the industrial robot industry.
　　The structural parts of construction machinery are mostly welding parts. In order to improve the welding quality and power, and meet the needs of shopping malls, many construction machinery manufacturers require to use robots for welding.