Sanbot speech at CITIC SECURITIES Capital Markets Annual Meeting 2018

QIHAN technology is the first enterprise that output 100,000 sets robot in the middle and large-scale service robot industry. Established in 2006, QIHAN began to perform independent research and development in 2009, and started the transformation to intelligent service robot in 2013. Employing over 800 staff and 160 of them were R & D engineers, the company has more than 200 patents and most of them are invention patents. In 2016, QIHAN had revenue of RMB 660 million and a net profit of about 150 million. And QIHAN was awarded one of the top ten service robots brands in China.

QIHAN is running three Sanbot robots now: Sanbot Elf, Sanbot Nano and Sanbot Max. Sanbot Elf is of 90CM height, 19KG net weight and can run 11 hours per charge. The system is ROS developed based on Android. Sanbot Nano is the Amazon Alexa powered service robot specially designed for home use. Cute and functional, the Sanbot Nano is the super companion for family members. Sanbot Max is the 1.45 meters tall, 100KG heavy. This advanced humanoid robot can work for 18 hours and stand by for 50 hours. It is powered with multiple systems, Android, Linux, ROS, TROS and peripherals can access to Sanbot Max thanks to its numerous USB and HDMI interfaces.

QIHAN owns a great number of innovations at voice processing, robot vision, object avoidance, walking technology, four-dimensional positioning navigation and more in artificial intelligence robotics: 1), in voice processing, QIHAN is the first company adopting multi-microphone localization and noise cancellation during hardware implementing motion, as well as beam localization in the whole industry. The company also designed a set of semantics to support the semantic customization in many scenes. 2) In robot visual, QIHAN is the only enterprise handling basic IPS algorithm based on FPGA. 3) In object avoidance, QIHAN adopted 3D in-depth camera to realize the object avoidance initially, then integrated ultrasonic, IR and TOF technologies to assist. 4) QIHAN occupied numerous patents in walking technology. For example, QIHAN makes the robot wheels walk more stable and less noisy by improving the Mecanum wheel and omnidirectional wheel. 5) QIHAN also leads in the industry in four-dimensional positioning navigation technology. Sanbot’s 3D positioning navigation is combined with multiple 3D cameras, instead of rotating laser radar. So Sanbot robot has more accuracy, speed, larger size map and less motion loss. 6) Motor is key to intelligent mobile robot. QIHAN adopts brushless motor and developed micro worm DC brushless motor and Mecanum wheel style outer hub motor, which have powerful torque force, low heat and self-locking function, and can work for 24 hours.

QIHAN build the Sanbot APP market and agent system via its own IoT platform QIHAN Cloud. All the robots’ remote upgrading, data collections are realized via QIHAN Cloud and it targets to three kinds of clients: 1) C-Customers: QIHAN offer PC and mobile Q-Link for interactions; 2) Solution developers and integrators: QIHAN offers the open API platform and SDK files to make clients create the customized APP market. 3) B-Clients/Agents: Clients can manage and monitor the condition of all the robots. Finally, QIHAN build a set of C-Customers, developers and integrators and B-Clients system.

QIHAN’s business model is Sanbot + Various Industries. QIHAN offers hardware, software, mobile APP and Cloud service, and cooperate with developers and integrators to customize a series of solutions. 1) For bank, QIHAN programs financial query to Sanbot robot to make it the professional robot consultant. 2) For education, the intelligent Sanbot is able to monitor the condition of the kids or students, and has good interactions. 3) For commercial chain, the advanced retail service robots have been working in a great number of beauty parlors and shopping malls. 4) For customs. Sanbot Elf has been in use in China’s customs for more than one year, and keeps the further upgrading and Sanbot Max intelligent robot is also been introduced now. 5) For court, courts in Beijing and Shenzhen also introduce Sanbot Max intelligent robot.

“Creation for Intelligent Life”, QIHAN is devoted to improving product quality and creating ground-breaking products for the customer. Using the interconnection of thing to thing, thing to human, and human to human, QIHAN providing products and services where everyone is a winner.

The application markets of customer service robot expanding quickly

The customer service robot market will be worth US$88 million by 2022, according to a report Tractica released earlier this week. Annual shipments are expected to increase from 2,730 units in 2016 to nearly 4,800 in 2022. The robots will be humanoid and non-humanoid, and telepresence robots, chatbots, and stationary customer interactive systems excluded.

Nearly half of this artificial intelligent robotics for customer service will be deployed in the Asia Pacific Region, North America, and Europe. According to the report, the business demand for this kind of intelligent robot is driven by the following factors: interactive marketing and re-branding strategies; the cost of human staff; customer service digitization and competition; robotics as a service for customer behavioral analytics; the shifting roles of human staff; initiatives to promote robots for the service industry, particularly in Japan and China.

The intelligent robots will be used in situations where customer interactions are standardized and repetitive -- such as in banks, shopping malls, family entertainment centers, exhibitions and events, airports and stores, Tractica noted.

Japan's Henn-na Hotel, for example, is fully staffed by robots, pointed out by Ray Wang, the principal analyst at Constellation Research.

A number of organizations already are using robots on a trial basis in the United States:

1. Mineta San Jose International Airport began using three customer service robots in 2016;
2. Lowe's introduced an autonomous retail service robot in 11 of its stores throughout San Francisco in 2016, and retail service robots also are being deployed in its OSH stores;
3. Target ran a one-week test at one of its San Francisco stores, using robots to help stock shelves and take inventory; it is considering building a concept store staffed by customer service robots.

China's EVA Air and Japan Airlines are using customer service robots, as are Alaska's St. Mary's Airport, Scotland's Glasgow Airport and Japan's Haneda Airport. China’s Sanbot service robot is for Shenzhen International Airport, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, and Gongbei customs services. With instant access to a corporate database or Cloud service, robots will reduce the amount of time wasted when dealing with customer queries dramatically.

Robots can deal with standard questions, said Cindy Zhou, principal analyst at Constellation Research. However, "customers still look for humans for any real assistance with problems," she told CRM Buyer. Though it cannot work independently without human support if customer really need further help, the intelligent robot is still loved by more and more people and the application markets are very large.

No worry about robots’ threat any more

In the past few years, numerous media reports that the era of intelligent service robots has arrived. In fact, as early as 25 years ago, Chinese scientist and future scientist Professor Zhou Haizhong predicted in the "Opinions on the Robot," with the progress of science and technology, especially the development of artificial intelligence and robot technology, the era of intelligent robot is coming, which will invigorate to the development of the manufacturing industry, and will provide new opportunities for the world economic development. Today, intelligent robots come out frequently and help with economic growth, verifying Professor Zhou's prediction.

In the 21^st century especially recent years, the tide of intelligent Service Robotics has been sweeping the world; various types of robots (including intelligent robot arms, intelligent humanoid robots, smart unmanned aerial vehicles, etc.) are paid attention to by the society. Because intelligent robots are of great use in the fields of manufacturing, construction, service, entertainment and medical, military, space and education, etc., experts even believe that their ownership and R & D level have become one of the standards of a national scientific and technological strength. Many developed countries, such as Japan, Germany, the United States and so on will consider the intelligent robots as a powerful promoter to their economic development. In recent couple years, Chinese intelligent robots are bursting out at a highest rapid.

However, the mixed feelings to the robots also come out among the people. Many people think that the birth of intelligent robots is a happy thing. For example, industrial robots can be flexible and efficient to improve production efficiency and product quality, and reduce production costs in many aspects; the robots can also set workers free from the monotonous physical labor, making them engage in more creative work; In addition, Intelligent robots can take on a lot of dangerous jobs, many occupational diseases, work injuries and therefore need, which cost a high price.

On the other side, ”Robotics as a Service”, the customized intelligent robot can help people with their hi-quality life: care robots for the elderly, robotics education in school, retail service robot, robot in the hotel; rescue robot in a variety of dangerous occasions to show their talents and complete the search and rescue mission. And even some people think that human and intelligent robots will join hand in hand for a better future.

But there are some people who worry that one day in the future, the smart robots may transcend human beings on the IQ, and even affect the employment, or even threaten human being’s life and property. As some science fiction films depict: intelligent robots take the positions of human in more and more areas, and stand on the opposite of human beings ultimately, from a helper into an enemy. Incidentally, American inventor and future scientist Dr. Ray kurzweil has predicted that robots would be smarter than humans in 2045.

In fact, the worry about robots’ threat is absolutely unnecessary. Intelligent robots are not omnipotent. In terms of IQ, the current smart robot "IQ" is equivalent to 4-year-old children's IQ, and compared to normal adult, its "common sense" is far worse. It can be seen, Dr. Ray kurzweil’s evaluation on the intelligent robot’s "IQ" is too high and his prediction is difficult to come true. Japanese robot expert Dr. Shigeo Hirose has said: Even if intelligent robots with "common sense", and can self-replication in the future, it is impossible to bring a wide range of unemployment, not even a threat to human beings.

Dr. Zhou Haizhong pointed out: the robots can go beyond the human beings in the work intensity, computing speed and memory function, but it’s impossible to transcend human in consciousness, reasoning, judgments and other aspects; In addition, the robot will be smarter and smarter to service human beings and benefit human beings with the principles of action.

Whether it’s a happy thing or worried one, the arrival of intelligent robots is the inevitable result of economic development and technological progress, but also an important symbol of a country to achieve modernization. The advantages of intelligent robots are much more than the disadvantages, thus we should embrace them with open arms.