We started to pay attention to the field of robotics very early. In 2019, I met Zhang Zhaohui at the ZhenCraft event and was attracted by his love and enthusiasm for the robotics industry. Seeing the mobile robots provided by Youibot in the movie "The Wandering Earth 2", I am very happy for them to make themselves known outside of fixed circle. The future presented in the movie has been brought into reality, and the mobile robots of Youibot have been applied in large-scale in the fields of semiconductors, lithium batteries, and power plants.

What does the future of robotics look like? What are the challenges? I hope this sharing can inspire everyone.

 —— Yin Le, Investor of Youibot, Partner of ZhenFund

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Yin Le: In the movie "The Wandering Earth 2", there are a lot of robot scenes. Will the era of robots come soon?

Zhang Zhaohui: In the past few decades, the industrialization process of robots has been very rapid. Industrial robots, service robots and special robots have been launched rapidly, spreading all over factories, shopping malls, homes, etc., and there are also robot companies that have been listed one after another.

The Past and Present of Robots

But robots have only just been accepted in most fields, and the penetration rate in most industries is too low to use statistics. It is embarrassingly low, but also excitingly low.

We are still very far away from the "world of harmonious coexistence with robots". What greets us is not only a vast world, but also gaps waiting for us to bridge.

Yin Le: What are the future development trends of robots? How is Youibot doing now?

Zhang Zhaohui: At present, robots are generally used as an automation tool, such as replacing a certain process (welding, screwing, polishing, etc.). In fact, we are experiencing the transformation of robots from tools to productivity.From tools to productivity is not only a leap in robot technology, but also an explosion of application scenarios.

To understand this industry from the logic of "robots are productivity", there will be many new ideas and understandings - "collaboration" is the key to building production relationships. At present, the production relationship between robots and application scenarios is generally single and weak, and more efforts should be made in this regard.

For example, in the application of inspection operation and maintenance scenarios, from the robot form to the scheduling writing system, extending to the intelligent inspection management system and intelligent management platform, how to make the robot no longer a single point, but a matrix composed of production relations.

Youibot has done a lot of practical practice, from the bottom layer of robot hardware to gradually extending to software management system; from industry cognition to enterprise automated logistics service, building a system that runs through the value chain, turning independent units into extensive productivity systems.

Inspection robot in the movie

In real life, it also undertakes important homework tasks

Yin Le: How to promote the industrialization of robots from thinking to implementation?

Zhang Zhaohui: From thinking to landing, this journey is actually not easy. In the past few years, in the process of industrialization of robots, many companies or institutions like to use some gimmicks as products. If you look at it for a long time, the vitality of the product will soon be exhausted. Practitioners will hear complaints about the poor environment and early customer demand. , need education and so on. In fact, otherwise, the real needs must have vitality. We should constantly explore the seeds of this vitality and try our best to make it flourish.

It is not easy to create a good robot product, and delivering a good robot project also has twists and turns. There are gaps in the industry, different needs, changes in project requirements, no standards, etc. The problems that come from the front end will inevitably extend to the back end, such as supply chain production, delivery, and so on.

There are many ways to overcome difficulties, but I think the concept and attitude are the most important. We always adhere to the "long-term commitment, customer success", strive for 100% project delivery, do not do unfinished projects, and must be worthy of the commitment to the customer's expectations. There will be experience and methods, but if the concept and attitude are wrong, things will not be done.

Yin Le: What is China's role in the robot industry?

Zhang Zhaohui: In the future robot industry, especially the mobile robot industry, China has rich industrial scenarios and needs, the most advanced intelligent technology and the fastest iteration speed. I believe that China will definitely give birth to world-leading companies.

Yin Le: Youibot has experienced some transformations. What difficulties did you encounter in the process of starting a business, and how did you face and solve them?

Zhang Zhaohui: The team encountered a bottleneck in the market application in the early stage of entrepreneurship. At that time, the funds were exhausted and experienced confusion, but they never thought of giving up. At that time, several team members held meetings every day, and finally finalized the two major business lines of industrial logistics and inspection, operation and maintenance, and achieved today's Youibot along the way. Looking back, I am grateful for the team's insight into the market and its ability to respond.

Youibot robot product matrix

Yin Le: It has been six years since you started your business. What do you think is the easiest pitfall for entrepreneurs to step on? Is there any experience and experience that you can share with new entrepreneurs?

Zhang Zhaohui: On the way to start a business, it is actually a kind of wisdom to learn to "give up" and be brave and good at subtraction.

Yin Le: What do you think are the three most important qualities of an entrepreneur?

Zhang Zhaohui: Be tenacious, embrace change, and do difficult but correct things.