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“This is an automatic sorting and handling gantry robot we developed for semi-steel PCR tires (passenger car tires). The maximum speed of the XY axes can reach 240 meters per minute, with a maximum span of 14 meters.” Staff members introduced at the production workshop of Qingdao Kejie Robotics Co., Ltd. located in the High-tech Zone.
The gantry robot is a product that Kejie Robotics began developing in 2010. When facing different customers and factories, this product can be customized in terms of structure and size according to the customer’s on-site needs, providing composite functions such as handling, sorting, stacking, and loading, and comes with a software control system that allows for configuration and management of parameters, interface signals, and log information.
Kejie Robotics continues to improve this product. Compared to the first generation, the current seventh generation product is lighter and has higher control precision, making on-site installation, debugging, and later maintenance more convenient. This product is mainly used in the automation sorting and handling of tires, steel cord, welding wire, and special steel in production processes, as well as in logistics sorting systems. In 2017, an evaluation expert group formed by domestic industry authority experts stated: “The project product fills the domestic gap in this field, and the key technologies of the results have reached an internationally advanced level.”
As a national specialized and innovative “little giant” enterprise, Kejie Robotics is recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as a national intelligent manufacturing system solution provider and one of the top 20 national demonstration robot system integrators, with provincial and municipal R&D platforms such as the Shandong Provincial Robotics and Precision Manufacturing Engineering Technology Research Center.
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How to promote new quality productivity to a higher level?
For Kejie Robotics, it means transforming and upgrading traditional industries, closely integrating with future industries, and empowering more sectors.
“We will be the driving force of new quality productivity. Driving robots to empower industries, driving the realization of intelligent factories, and driving the comprehensive utilization of new energy. From robot automation to smart cold chains, intelligent factories, and flexible green energy management for electric vehicle charging and swapping, our core technologies of digital intelligence systems are continuously upgraded, gradually expanding from traditional industry factory ends to more scenarios, including new energy, express logistics, and cold chain scenarios,” said Wang Yingzhao, director and board secretary of Qingdao Kejie Robotics Co., Ltd.
The domestic market share of gantry robots has reached 80%
The rubber tire industry is a mainstream sector in China’s manufacturing industry and is labor-intensive, facing issues such as outdated processes, high labor intensity, and labor shortages, necessitating urgent upgrades. To address the pain points of domestic tire companies, Kejie Robotics has been conducting intelligent transformations for well-known domestic and foreign tire companies since 2010 through gantry robots and other solutions.
“The developed gantry robots extensively use aluminum alloy materials, significantly reducing the weight of moving parts, achieving lightweight design, which is also a prerequisite for achieving speeds of 4 meters per second. The large span of the gantry poses high requirements for synchronous operation on both sides of the X-axis, which is one of our core technologies. Currently, the gantry robot has achieved a maximum grasping weight of 2500 kilograms,” said the staff.
According to statistics, the current domestic market share of Kejie Robotics’ gantry robots has reached 80%, sorting more than 200 million finished tires annually. Over 40% of the top 15 tire companies globally and over 90% of the top 10 companies in China use this product, with clients including Goodyear, Pirelli, Zhongce Rubber, Cheng Shin, Linglong, Giti, Sailun, Triangle, and Senqilin, and it has been exported in bulk to countries and regions such as the United States, Japan, Germany, Mexico, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
“We have made significant contributions to many domestic rubber tire companies going overseas. Through the overseas layout of these companies, we have achieved the ‘going out’ of high-end equipment. In 2023, the company successfully signed an intelligent manufacturing automation project for a tire factory with a North African client amid competition with internationally renowned partners from Europe and America, providing the company’s self-developed gantry robots, high-speed stackers, heavy-duty stackers, and high-speed EMS as flagship products. The international application landscape of rubber tire industry products has expanded from East Asia and Southeast Asia to North Africa, exploring a new path of ‘going in’ through providing comprehensive services that integrate R&D, production, and sales,” Wang Yingzhao said.
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Covering 70% of the domestic smartphone industry clients
Notably, Kejie Robotics has developed robotic products for the 3C (computer, communication, consumer electronics) industry, covering 70% of the domestic smartphone industry clients. As a supplier to well-known domestic smartphone manufacturers, Kejie Robotics has provided dozens of intelligent smartphone assembly production lines, applying over 20,000 robots. After the application of these robotic products, labor costs were reduced by over 85%, overall production efficiency increased by over 20%, and product yield improved by 5%.
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Battery swapping robots alleviate “range anxiety”
To address the pain points in promoting the new energy battery swapping model, and to solve issues such as the single service target of battery swapping robots, high investment costs at single sites, large land area, and long construction cycles, Kejie Robotics has launched an automatic battery swapping robot for new energy vehicles based on over 20 years of accumulated robot technology and products. The entire battery swapping process is automatically controlled by the robot, from lifting the electric vehicle, removing screws, moving to take off, to replacing the new battery. Generally, the traditional mode requires 1 hour to fully charge, while using the battery swapping robot developed by Kejie Robotics, the entire battery swapping process only takes 60 seconds, faster than refueling, effectively solving the current problem of ride-hailing drivers queuing for charging.
“Passenger cars can swap batteries in 60 seconds, and commercial vehicles in 108 seconds,” the staff introduced. In the new energy sector, Kejie Robotics is a core supplier for well-known domestic new energy vehicle companies, having independently developed and produced efficient battery swapping stations for passenger and commercial vehicles, creating an open platform for the entire industry chain of artificial intelligence, smart battery swapping ecology, and operations. The intelligent temperature control system under all-weather conditions features constant temperature slow charging, dynamic inspection, and other functions, ensuring intelligent control throughout the charging environment, achieving interconnectivity between vehicles, stations, and cloud platforms. At the same time, 5G technology is used for 24-hour cloud monitoring of battery swapping power batteries, with constant temperature slow charging extending battery life, and seven layers of safety measures ensuring the safety of batteries and battery swapping stations, equipped with advanced automatic locking mechanism designs to establish a safety barrier throughout the battery swapping process.
Especially, the efficient battery swapping robots developed by Kejie Robotics effectively address the pain points of energy supplementation for heavy-duty trucks. Charging heavy-duty trucks takes a long time, with the fastest charge requiring 1 hour, leading to low operational efficiency for new energy heavy-duty trucks. However, under the battery swapping model, new energy heavy-duty trucks do not need to wait long for charging, completing a battery swap in less than 2 minutes, efficiently and quickly solving the range issue and improving work efficiency. As of now, Kejie Robotics has independently developed three generations of efficient battery swapping robots for new energy passenger vehicles and two generations for commercial vehicles, with products widely recognized for their equipment efficiency, cost-effectiveness, reliability, and modular expansion.
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AI Empowering Robots Towards Greater Intelligence
Industrial robots are entering the intelligent era thanks to AI. How will Kejie Robotics position itself in this regard?
It is reported that the robot industry, both internationally and domestically, is increasingly moving towards intelligent and customized services. Kejie Robotics is committed to empowering traditional industries through the iterative update of key technologies, helping clients secure a place in both domestic and international layouts. Currently, many products provided by Kejie Robotics incorporate AI technology, including machine vision detection, digital twins, algorithm applications, laser detection, and automatic navigation.
“AI technology gives robots sharper ‘eyes’ and smarter ‘brains’. Through the technical development of ‘AI + robots + application scenarios’, we provide intelligent manufacturing solutions and practical applications of new quality productivity for many industries,” Wang Yingzhao said. In 2018, Kejie Robotics created a typical case for a listed company in the automotive parts industry in Shandong. That year, Kejie Robotics collaborated with this company to develop an intelligent detection automation system for skeleton materials by integrating robots, 3D machine vision, and artificial intelligence technology, solving detection process issues in the production of skeleton materials and significantly improving product safety performance. With this technology as a breakthrough, the company directly entered the international market.
“Relying on the combination of AI technology and robotic products, Kejie Robotics’ solutions are currently more applied in energy management, light storage charging and swapping, etc., empowering enterprises,” Wang Yingzhao said. “From the original automated production lines to logistics circulation production line warehousing, and even in the new energy sector, such as photovoltaic energy storage, charging, and battery swapping, we have formed platform-based solutions, which is a significant advantage for the enterprise. Leveraging these advantages, we will closely integrate with future industries, transform and upgrade traditional industries, and continue to provide empowerment through technology.”
Source: Qingdao Daily / Guanhai News Reporter: Zhou Wei