"Prosperous development" is a deep impression left by the domestic mobile robot (AGV/AMR) industry in 2021. Especially under the influence of the epidemic and the continuous fluctuation of the external environment, the mobile robot industry has experienced a series of tests, such as rising raw material prices, chip shortages, and difficulty in project delivery. It is really gratifying that it still shows a prosperous scene. At present, in the field of intelligent manufacturing, a mobile robot has become the standard configuration of many factories and an indispensable key link. On the one hand, mobile robots can well meet the intelligent needs of production, transportation, storage, service, and other links in the transformation process of the traditional manufacturing industry; on the other hand, it is superimposed with the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and industrial Internet, creating many new scenes with high quality and commercial value. These in turn promote the vigorous development of the mobile robot industry.

2021 Mobile Robot (AGV/AMR) Market Review

Market demand exploded, and sales exceeded 10 billion yuan.

According to statistics from the New Strategic Mobile Robot Industry Research Institute, a total of 72,000 industrial application mobile robots (AGV/AMR) will be sold in the Chinese market in 2021, an increase of 75.61% over 2020; market sales have successfully exceeded the 10 billion yuan mark, reaching 12.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 64%. It is expected that in the next ten to twenty years, the domestic mobile robot industry will continue to grow rapidly and is expected to reach a market scale of 100 billion yuan.

In 2021, although it continues to be affected by the epidemic, the domestic mobile robot market still maintains a high development speed. In various fields of mobile robot application, the demand of traditional industries such as automobile assembly, 3C electronics, third-party logistics, semiconductors, aerospace, port terminals and FMCG food continues to expand; thanks to the impact of carbon emission policies, there has been explosive growth in new energy batteries, photovoltaic and other fields. Mobile robots have become the standard solution for the production and expansion of these industries. A variety of new products that are deeply integrated with the production process have emerged in batches, which has improved the automation and intelligence level of production and played a key role in reducing staff and increasing efficiency for enterprises.

It is worth noting that although the automotive industry is still the most widely used industry for mobile robots, the proportion of the automotive industry in the mobile robot application market has decreased due to the impact of the industry prosperity.  In contrast, supply chain, third-party logistics, and new retail have become the most important application areas for warehousing and sorting robots, with significant sales growth. Compared with 2020, the application proportion of mobile robots in the 3C electronics/home appliance industry has increased, and the business volume in the field of express e-commerce at home and abroad is also expanding, which is directly related to the rapid layout and improvement of the supply chain system of these industries under the long-term impact of the epidemic.

Prospect of mobile robot market and technology development trend in 2022

Deep integration of technology and application to form solutions that meet industry needs.

Looking at the development process of mobile robots, we can see that mobile robot technology is being deeply integrated with various applications, thus forming a variety of industry solutions. Through this integration, mobile robots can be quickly combined with artificial intelligence, cloud computing, IoT and other technologies to form many influential products that can meet specific application needs. 

In the next few years, this trend of deep integration of technology and application will continue and develop. The mobile robot industry will create a clearer value output and accelerate the integration between technology and application through various innovative platforms. This horizontal combination of core technology and application scenarios is also an important feature of the popularization and development of the mobile robot industry.

After years of efforts and development, China's mobile robot industry has made major breakthroughs in a series of links from parts to complete machines, from core algorithms to system solutions, and has established a relatively complete supply chain and R & D system. China's robot industry is gradually improving its situation of "lack of core and soul" and large but not strong, and is firmly moving towards the direction of independent control of core components and core software.

Looking ahead, the mobile robot industry is currently progressing in an orderly manner; and careful observation shows that many innovations have taken place quietly,  and the entire industry is accumulating energy and brewing a new round of changes and outbreaks. We have reason to believe that with our joint efforts, China's mobile robot industry will continue to flourish and will surpass and lead in the future global competition.