During the Lunar New Year of the Rabbit, *The Wandering Earth 2* presented a more "hardcore" science fiction romantic narrative. In the film, robots of different forms exist in various scenes, ensuring the stable, continuous, and efficient operation of a massive system. In countless visions of the future world, robots will become an integral and important component of future society.
In fact, the industrial-grade mobile robots featured in the movie are already widely used in modern industrial production and daily life, becoming indispensable helpers for us.
Q: What exactly is a mobile robot?
01 Introduction to Mobile Robots
An automatic mobile robot is a machine that performs tasks autonomously. It can be commanded by humans or run pre-programmed sequences, its actions controlled by software. Today, mobile robots are increasingly popular in various business sectors. They are used to assist or replace human workers, and can even perform tasks that are impossible or dangerous for humans, and are widely used in manufacturing and production industries.
02 Composition of Mobile Robots
Mobile robots mainly consist of three parts: a central controller, sensors, and a chassis drive system. The controller is analogous to the human brain, possessing computational, analytical, and decision-making capabilities. Sensors are equivalent to our five senses, primarily including lidar sensors and infrared sensors. The chassis drive system is like a human's feet, responding to messages from the "brain" through differential speed on two wheels or omnidirectional speed on multiple wheels, adjusting its speed and direction in real time, and flexibly turning to precisely reach its target point.
03 Types of Mobile Robots
Internationally, mobile robots are generally divided into two main categories: industrial mobile robots and service mobile robots. Service mobile robots include robots such as robotic vacuum cleaners, self-driving cars, and food delivery robots.
According to the group standard "Terminology for Industrial Mobile Robots" formulated by the China AGV/AMR Industry Alliance, industrial mobile robots (AGV/AMR) can be classified as follows: Based on navigation method, they can be divided into electromagnetic navigation, magnetic tape navigation, magnetic nail navigation, optical navigation, QR code navigation, coordinate navigation, laser navigation, visual navigation, inertial navigation, base station navigation, RFID navigation, and composite navigation. Based on drive method, they can be divided into single-wheel drive, dual-wheel drive, and multi-wheel drive. Based on drive structure, they can be divided into differential structure, steering wheel structure, Mecanum wheel structure, track structure, and axle structure. Based on function, they can be classified into handling mobile robots, assembly mobile robots, traction mobile robots, inspection mobile robots, sorting mobile robots, and composite mobile robots.
04 The Future of Mobile Robots
The development of mobile robots has played a crucial role in China's transition to Industry 4.0. With the gradual disappearance of China's demographic dividend, rising labor costs, and global challenges such as an aging population, the difficulty in recruiting workers is becoming increasingly severe. In the future, mobile robots will be widely used in manufacturing industries such as semiconductors, new energy, transportation, and 3C electronics manufacturing, promoting quality improvement, efficiency enhancement, and high-quality development across these sectors.
