Rhea Vendors Group, an Italian manufacturer of tailor-made coffee and vending machines, today unveiled its Barista On-Demand vehicle in collaboration with Chinese robo-delivery firm Neolix. Showcased at the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, the new product combines a vending machine with self-driving tech as China’s coffee market expands rapidly. 

The vehicle “transforms the typical coffee consumption from a go-to-shop activity into shop-come-to-customers,” a press release accompanying the launch said Featuring a Rhea BL Doppio & Cup coffee machine, the vehicle allows users to order coffee with one click on a mobile application, with their desired drink delivered by the unmanned coffee vehicle, the companies said. Rhea and Neolix want to “ensure a vision for a more automated and sustainable future,” the press release added. The vehicle is powered by renewable energy sources.

Rhea Vendors Group, founded in 1960, is one of the largest producers of customized vending machines in the world. Beijing-headquartered Neolix describes itself as “the world’s leading autonomous vehicle maker that specializes in Robo-Delivery” and has collaborated on automated delivery vehicles for the likes of JD and FedEx, deploying over 1,000 vehicles worldwide in more than 12 countries.

“In today’s rapidly advancing world, we see the pace of daily routines accelerate at an unprecedented rate, calling for adaptive solutions to meet instant demand. This project responds to the shift and offers a new perspective on smart mobility in new retail. Instead of people moving to access coffee services, we can leverage our technology to mobilize coffee shops to reach consumers,” said Yu Enyuan, founder and CEO of Neolix Technologies. “Having been at the forefront of global mobility solutions, our aim isn’t merely to enhance mobility but also empower traditional sectors, ensuring, for example, that coffee lovers receive a frictionless experience on the go.”

The Chinese coffee market holds great potential, as coffee consumption is growing at a rate of more than 30 percent per year, according to Rhea and Neolix. 

“We are very proud of our collaboration with Neolix. The birth of Barista On-Demand is a symbolic outcome of Italian and Chinese business cooperation towards innovation and a new way of experiencing hospitality. Together, we harness Italy’s design legacy and our 60 years of coffee expertise, with Chinese tech advances to stay ahead of the age and provide a seamless coffee experience to our customers all over the world,” Andrea Pozzolini, CEO of Rhea Vendors Group, said. “The unmanned coffee vehicle showcases Rhea’s unwavering commitment to pioneering innovative solutions in the vending world. We’ll initiate this groundbreaking venture in its birthplace, already ready to understand that the coffee machine is only one part of the broader consumer experience.”

This article is provided by Rhea Vendors Group and NEOLIX.

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The year 2018 may seem a little late to join the robotics market. However, Alex Wu, co-founder and CEO of Tiger Technology, believes it could help him better understand what the sector really needs.

“The service robot market is highly competitive and there aren’t any major players that are operating in the sector,” Wu said. “Entering this market late is not a disadvantage to us; it helps us understand what kind of application scenarios are doable.”

Wu described current service robots as “moving iPads,” a computer with a mobile chassis. He believes a robot should not only be able to feel and communicate but should also perform tasks like a human.

“Service robots on the market now are more like computers which sit on autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs),” Wu said. AGVs are found in warehouses and typically follow lines or markers on the floor in order to navigate. “When I see that I don’t think it can be called a robot,” he said.

iKudo is Tiger Technology’s two-wheel collaborative robot and is equipped with a flexible robotic arm. It can provide multiple services for consumers. Wu said the robot could be responsible for the last 100 meters of door-to-door deliveries in large communities. The company is also planning to target in-home elderly care in the future.

Wu told TechNode that the robotic arm on iKudo doesn’t need to be as accurate as its industrial cousins. By reducing the accuracy, Tiger Technology can cut the cost of the arms and increase the amount of goods they can carry. Moreover, the company is focused on how to make the arm safer for consumers’ everyday use.

“The main feature of our robotic arm is safety,” Wu said. When pressure from iKudo’s arm exceeds a safe level it is programmed to stop immediately, he claims.

In the future, Wu hopes to build a cloud system for all service robots that will help them collaborate. He said with the help of 5G, service robots would be able to do more advanced calculations and help people in a wider range of scenarios.

Beijing-based Vincross has just launched HEXA, a six-legged, swivel-topped programmable robot, via a Kickstarter fund with a launch price of $499. The spider-like robot has the ability to take part in search and rescue, dancing or espionage missions; the accompanying ecosystem with its “skill store,” programming language and simulator might prove to be more of a breakthrough—and moneymaker—than the hardware.

HEXA can walk, climb and carry things, navigating with a 720p camera, night vision, a gravity sensor, three-axis accelerometer, distance measuring sensors (lasers), infrared transmitter and has other features such as WiFi and multiple ports for add-ons and connections. It has even beaten Apple to wireless charging.

It’s probably best to see the HEXA in action:

“If you want to explore using current robots, you have to be a roboticist,” Vincross COO Andy Xu tells TechNode from San Francisco, “because even a simple task such as moving an arm will take hundreds of lines of code, but with this ecosystem it’s very easy to create tasks like this.”

The ecosystem, called MIND (they like their capitals), is the combination of a programming language, a skill store of sets of coding submitted by developers, the mobile app, and a 3D simulator where developers can quickly have a virtual on-screen HEXA go through the motions or test virtual environments.

One of the main reasons that Jenny Lee, managing director of GGV Capital, Vincross’s main investors, was so interested in Vincross is because of how comprehensive the ecosystem is. Lee values the operating system more than the hardware for generating returns, the Vincross team explains. With so many devices flooding the market, the operating system is the big differentiator.

One of our main questions to the Vincross team was, of course, if the HEXA falls on its back, can it get back up? No. “HEXA will immediately know that its back is on the ground, but it cannot do anything,” says Xu. Can it call for help? Actually, yes—that was a skill devised by a Beta tester.

“We don’t really know yet what the community will create,” says Xu. “[The ecosystem] increases accessibility for developer groups.” Beta testers have created some other skills already available in the skill store such as “bull fighting,” which programs the HEXA to recognize red items held nearby and will move towards them.

Vincross has also launched a scheme to find 2,048 mentors for the HEXA to use the device in innovative ways (2,048 because that’s 2 to the power of 11). 8,000 people had already signed up for pre-access to the Kickstarter and serious applications for the HEXA had flooded in.

One human mentor request was made by a scientist in the University of Hawaii’s HI-SEAS Mars mission simulation, for exploration but also for “emotional support.” An improv actor has requested one for taking part in his shows and a researcher at Imperial College London will conduct reinforcement learning experiments on a HEXA so that it can learn for itself.

“We are looking for tasks from the community in search and rescue tasks and home security,” said Xu. “What we’ve done with HEXA is put technology that was not [previously] accessible to developers into the platform. For the next generation, we’re looking at a bigger version of HEXA that can climb higher stairs, cross more difficult terrain and has more sensors.”

Which begs the question of security. “It’s much like drones. There are some things we can do as manufacturers such as geofencing, but as platform builders, there’s little we can do in terms of micromanaging behavior,” explains Xu.

As for user safety, the HEXA uses encryption that means intercepted data is unreadable and that can detect any man-in-the-middle attacks.

Despite raising $7 million in early round funding, Vincross is going ahead with a Kickstarter launch to generate a large order batch. The device will go on sale in China in a month’s time via JD.com. The components are all made in Shenzhen and then the HEXA robots are assembled in the company’s own factory in Beijing. Manufacturing in China is highly appealing to the team, as Xu explains: “We can do one iteration in two weeks compared to one or two months in the US.”

Prices on Kickstarter start at $499 to $649 with an expected price of $999 after the event. Prices for when it goes on sale via JD.com are not yet available.

The device is not intended as a toy as the programming still requires rather complex coding. Instead, at first it is intended for developers. This could be a significant new realm of development, says Xu:

“The plan is for developers to make money on this platform. As a former developer I can say that it is very boring to develop on current platforms like games and VR or mobile apps. Developers want something new. Unlike other platforms that are highly two dimensional, robotics gives you a pathway to interact with the real physical world.”

Skills entered into the skill store are currently free to any users and developers, “but it’s not hard for us to add in-app purchases,” says Xu.

More types of robots will become available in the future, but if you master the MIND ecosystem via HEXA, you won’t have to relearn a new interface for future robots, whether or not they are manufactured by Vincross.

The brain is such complex organ that we are not even close to fully understanding how it works and regulates the rest of the body. Current AI development is focused on perhaps the easiest of brain functions: learning, communication, memory, and sensing.

However, the study of the role of the cerebellum, the part of your brain that controls and regulates voluntary movement, has yet to attract its due attention from the market, according to Lin Ling, chief strategy officer of Slamtec.

“SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) is a sub-branch of AI. While AI is playing the role for cerebrum and radar for human vision, SLAM is fulfilling the task of the cerebellum, enabling robots to move fluidly, stay balanced, and be proprioceptive,” he said.

Born out of maker group RoboPeak, Slamtec was bootstrapped by a group of passionate engineers who first built the project as a pastime.

“Back in 2009 when RoboPeak was established, the cost for laser radar models is too high for maker teams like us,” said Lin.

By tolerating some margin of error, the team managed to lower the cost of their RPLIDAR system greatly. With a ready-to-go prototype and market potential, RoboPeak team founded Slamtec in 2013, ready to turn their passion into a business.

Slamtec, as its name suggests, is a startup focused on providing affordable and all-in-one robot autonomous localization and navigation solutions. In addition to low-cost RPLIDAR, the company is gradually shifting its focus to SLAM solution based on LIDAR technology and Zeus robot platform.

“RPLIDAR is just a start point for our vision in solving the mobility problem of robots. In real application scenario, we would face more complicated situations. As the robots move around, the surrounding environment also changes. That’s why we moves to SLAM, an algorithm that enables a robot to map an unknown environment while at the same time tracking its location,” Lin added.

The company’s SLAMWARE is a highly integrated modular autonomous robot localization and navigation solution with SLAM technology based on RPLIDAR and the matched path planning capability.

Robot vacuum cleaners are, so far, the most popular robot appliance. However, Slamtec is exploring areas outside vacuum cleaners as well.

“One of the reasons for the rise of robot vacuum cleaners as a consumer electronics is that it is something people are accustomed to and can use in their daily lives. Adoption of new technologies goes through the same path from enterprise- to customer-facing services,” according to Lin. He points out that robots may find their first enterprise boom in security and finance.

Slamtec’s general purpose robot platform Zeus is built to tap this trend. With a built-in enhanced SLAMWARE autonomous localization and navigation system, Zeus can work with different over-the-top applications for mobile advertising, video meeting, accompanying and package delivery.

Along with the AI boom, the robotic industry is gaining momentum in China and around the world. “But the market is rising at a speed slower than we expected,” said Lin. “As one of the earliest Chinese teams in this arena, we expect 2017 and 2018 to record the real boom of this sector.”

Over the past four years, Slamtec has grown from five founding members to a team with over 90 staffs, looking to raise B round financing later this year.

China is the world’s largest market for industrial robots, overtaking Japan in 2013. According to China Robot Industry Alliance (CRIA) statistics, the volume of industrial robot sales in China was 36,350 units, or one fifth of the global total in 2013, and is expected to reach around 100,000 units in 2017.

The Chinese government has also announced a ten-year development plan for the robotics industry, as the country looks to upgrade its manufacturing capabilities (source in Chinese). Currently, Chinese robotics covers industrial and agricultural, commercial and even residential uses.

Some robots have already entered Chinese homes, including cleaning robots. But Chinese robots are going well beyond sweeping. Some models can simultaneously protect the home, amuse family members and educate children.

“Google has purchased eight [robotics] companies over the years. It’s very clear that the robot industry is going to take off throughout the coming years,” Rokid CEO Dan Wong told TechNode in an interview.

1. Rokid 

Rokid is an egg-shaped robot that can turn on lights, play songs, provide information about the weather, or remind you about an appointment. It can also call the police if it “sees” unfamiliar faces. Its name comes from ‘robot + kid’, meaning that Rokid can learn and become smarter as time goes by. The key technology behind Rokid is voice print and face recognition.

“A family A.I.(Artificial Intelligence) device for the home is an important domain and is tough to develop,” says Mr. Wong. “We first thought of developing a mobile robot. However, users may feel they already have too much technology around them in the house, and we thought, ‘will they consider buying another device that moves around your home?’ That’s why Rokid is not mobile and we provide functions mainly to make the family relax.”

Rokid was named a 2016 CES Innovation Awards Honoree in the Home Audio/Video Components and Accessories category. Based in San Francisco, Hangzhou and Beijing, Rokid was founded in July of 2014. Mr. Wong says the company has provided 100 test units to its first batch of beta users and that Rokid will be available to the public soon.

2. Pudding

Another home robot is Pudding, which has similar functions as Rokid. For example, the robot has a home security function that can alert the user’s phone if there’s an intruder. The robot also has functions that are aimed at children, like telling users the zodiac fortune of the day and reciting Chinese proverbs. Users can choose from two kinds of A.I. characters, either “serious” or “funny.”

The robot’s crowdfunding campaign on JD.com completed its goal of 500,000 yuan, reaching 800,000 yuan ($122,000 USD) last October. The Pudding robot is currently available for 999 RMB ($153 USD) on JD.com.

3. Alpha 2

Created by a Chinese team based in California, Alpha 2 is a humanoid robot with 20 joints that can replicate human motion. The robot can be connected to the user’s mobile phone to read and send texts and emails, and control WiFi office equipment such as printers and fax machines. It can also take photos and videos, and control lights and locks. Alpha 2’s crowdfunding campaign closed at $1.2 million USD on December 31st, surpassing its Indiegogo goal by 13 times.

UBTECH, the makers of Alpha 2,  operates its own open system called Alpha Store where users can download new apps to keep the robot learning.

4. Jett Companion Robot 

Jett is a companion robot for preschoolers based on the character from the popular animated series, Super Wings‘. Through the cloud of big data, the robot can constantly update its knowledge and skills, and can teach children language and science.

Equipped with the Turing OS operating system, the robot boasts voice recognition, semantic analysis, emotion recognition, visual identification, and self-learning capabilities. Its built-in camera analyzes children’s emotions, and the robot will tell jokes and sing when it finds the child unhappy. Finally, the robot will give “Daily Growth Report” to the child’s parents, to list what courses, songs, and stories the child had gone through with the robot.

The robot was introduced to public last June by Alpha Smart Technologies at a technology conference held in Beijing. The company also announced its strategic partnership with Blue Frog Robotics and Turing Robot, to build China’s ‘Smart Home Ecosystem.’

Image Credit: Rokid, Hksilicon, Pudding, Alpha2

Chinese regional governments started to make their forays into robot industry to support the development manufacturing industry and offset surging labor costs. China represents 20 percent of the global manufacturing sector. However, China’s labor cost soared nearly 60 percent in 2012 as compared with 2009, suffering the highest labor cost in Asia and lagging far behind developed countries (source in Chinese).

The annual growth rate of China’s robot industry recorded a chart-topping 40 percent in recent years. The annual output of this sector is expected to reach nearly 300 billion yuan within one decade, while that for the whole industry chain will amount to trillions of yuan (source in Chinese).

Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology sealed deals with several robot manufacturers to establish robot projects in the southwestern economic center of Chongqing. The government expected the output from robot industry to reach 50 billion yuan in five years and this reading is expected to amount to 100 billion yuan by 2020, according to Huang Qifan, mayor of the city.

A raft of robot industry parks were established countrywide, including cities of Nanjing, Harbin and Qingdao.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is planning to issue a guide on the future development of robot industry.