Economy

Markets

Industries

Insights

Reports

Events

Nothing artificial about Qu's intelligence

By Fu Yu (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-16 07:59

The production workshop of SIASUN Robot & Automation Co, Ltd in Shenyang. Company photo

In 2008, Qu Daokui's confidence paid off as SIASUN Robot & Automation Co, Ltd prepared for its listing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

If the IPO is successful, the robot manufacturer will raise 165 million yuan, offering 13.5 million A-shares, representing 25.23 percent of its capital.

The company has a 90 percent share of the domestic robot market with sales totalling 880 million yuan in 2008.

Related readings:  Scientist's hi-tech dreams come true

Qu said SIASUN's goal is to develop into an advanced equipment manufacturer and a globally competitive hi-tech industry group, rather than just taking advantage of China's low labor costs.

The application of industrial-use robots has a promising future. According to the National Development and Research Commission, during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), vehicle companies will need 20,000 robots and the sales volume will reach 9.31 billion yuan.

Since its establishment, SIASUN has benefited from China's efforts to develop its hi-tech sector and the automobile industry.

China's automobile industry has experienced rapid development since 2000. In 2006, 7.19 million motor vehicles were manufactured in China, which surpassed Germany as the third-largest automobile maker, after Japan and the United States.

Eyeing the opportunities, Qu put his 400 research staff to work on developing vehicle-making robots and waited for the right time to expand.

A production line with the capacity for 100,000 to 200,000 cars needs 600 robots if it is in a mature automobile industry.

To meet this need, SIASUN has successfully developed more than 30 kinds of robot products for spot welding, assembly and laser processing.

But how can an eight-year-old company compete with multinational firms from Switzerland, Germany and Japan?

Qu has his trump card. "We can provide the same standard of product at half their price and ensure clients' problems are resolved in 24 hours."

The company now has branches in cities including Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen. With funds raised from the IPO, SIASUN hopes to set up new manufacturing bases nationwide.

Besides robots for industrial use, Qu said domestic robots are a growing trend worldwide. Although mass production remains a long way off, Qu expects advanced domestic robotics to play a major role in his firm's future.

"The Intelligent Service Robot will be the third generation of consumer electronics products after the first generation of radio and television, and the second IT generation," he said.

One of the world's most popular robots, the Roomba, a vacuum cleaner that scuttles around the floor, has been sold to more than two million homes worldwide.

"We are also developing the intelligent service robots to take care of the old and the disabled," Qu said, anticipating a rapidly aging society.

"The price of the robot ranges from 10,000 to 30,000 yuan, but it is still not the right time for the mass production," Qu said.

"Most of today's robots operate with a program written by humans," Qu told China Business Weekly. "In order to develop a robot that can think and move like a human, we first have to understand how the human brain works."

He noted that he next hurdle for the home robot is better artificial intelligence.

"We need the robot to be smart enough to understand what we want it to do and then they go and do it. We are still in the infancy of artificial intelligence."