The next day, Feng Xiaochen and Yang Haifan began their investigation in Germany. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Their trip to Europe had several aims. The first is financing, after talking to Feng Hua, this matter will be completely handed over to him to operate, which is completely reassuring. The second is to visit some research institutes and factories in Europe to understand the technical situation of others, which is of much greater significance to Yang Haifan than to Feng Xiaochen, after all, Feng Xiaochen is a traveler and has seen a lot of the world. There is also a task, that is, to purchase some equipment in Europe, according to Feng Xiaochen's requirements, most of them are second-hand equipment, this task has been handed over to Feng Shuyi, she will help Feng Xiaochen and them inquire about the source of second-hand equipment, and then Feng Xiaochen and them will negotiate after there is exact news.

Before leaving China, Feng Xiaochen had already made an international call to Feng Hua and asked him to help contact some places to visit. Feng Hua used his connections and the connections Yan Leqin had accumulated in the past to help Feng Xiaochen contact some research institutes, including the University of Munich, the University of Stuttgart, and the Higher Technical School of Aachen, as well as companies such as the Bavarian Engine Factory and Promethe. As soon as Feng Xiaochen arrived in Germany, he notified Peman of Philo's company to come over and be their guide, and with a German accompanying him, many things would be easier.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honor to introduce you to our institute's industrial robotics group, our team currently has 45 members, including 15 robots, don't look clumsy, but each robot has its own personality. ”

Professor Wanek, director of the Institute of Production Technology and Automation of the German Fulang and Fei Society, humorously introduced his department to Feng Xiaochen and others. This is an institution specializing in the research of industrial robots, with a large number of testing equipment, which can test the working speed, noise, vibration, trajectory form, accuracy, etc. of industrial robots, and record the test results to form a complete database to guide the selection of robots.

"This is a robot?" Yang Haifan looked at a machine that was stupidly moving on the test platform, and asked Feng Xiaochen in a low voice.

"Yes, if I'm not mistaken, this should be a transport robot designed to move workpieces between different processes. Feng Xiaochen introduced. Compared with later generations, the robots of this era are too low-end, and the work tasks they can engage in are very simple and their movements are not flexible. The sweeping robots used in later generations of families seem to be more dexterous than these robots.

Yang Haifan was dumbfounded, and the intelligence of the robot obviously shocked him. He can be regarded as having seen some automation equipment, Chen Yu bearing company has a lot of CNC machine tools imported from Germany, it is already a little intelligent, but compared with the intelligence of the robot, it is still a lot worse. The CNC machine tools used by Chen Yu company are well-known in the whole Nanjiang Province, and many engineers from state-owned factories have visited, so that Yang Haifan feels that this is the performance of high technology, and now he sees other people's robots, he knows that he is really a frog at the bottom of the well.

"I always thought robots were just science fiction stuff, but I didn't think ...... Well, but it's true that the robots in science fiction are not the same as these robots. Yang Haifan said to Feng Xiaochen sneeringly. In China, the concept of robots does only exist in science fiction novels, and generally refers to the kind of humanoid robots with square heads and brains, hands and feet. In fact, industrial robots have nothing in common with people at all, just a machine with a certain intelligence.

"At present, the flexible manufacturing system has been widely used in the western industry, the traditional CNC machining center has an advantage for mass manufacturing products, but with the increasing individual requirements of users, the batch of industrial products is getting smaller and smaller, and even a large number of single-piece production requirements. In this case, only a flexible manufacturing system can adapt to the new form.

Industrial robots are an indispensable component of flexible manufacturing systems. In the field of construction machinery, the welding and painting processes of Western factories have been completely handed over to robots, and the operation of CNC production lines is increasingly controlled by robots. The transport robots that you see today, using lasers for automatic guidance, are able to move freely in the huge workshop and speed up the process of transporting the workpieces.

However, the assembly of large construction machinery is still realized manually, and the robot technology used for equipment assembly is still a difficult point. At present, the robot mainly undertakes some auxiliary work in the assembly process, such as an automatically controlled crane, which can save a lot of effort from workers. ”

Vanek was very enthusiastic to introduce the application of industrial robots to the guests, because he knew that Feng Xiaochen was engaged in construction machinery, so he especially focused on the use of robots in construction machinery manufacturing. He has some friendship with the Feng family, and can barely be regarded as Yan Leqin's student, and later has been doing scientific research in the field of machinery, and he is very familiar with Yan Leqin, and he is also quite enthusiastic about Feng Xiaochen.

"Mr. Vanek, what do you think are the main benefits of using robots in industrial production?" Yang Haifan asked.

"The benefits are obvious. First, the use of robots can greatly reduce costs. Although the one-time input used is relatively large, the factory will be able to reduce the number of workers for a long time after that, resulting in significant savings in labor costs. ”

"That's the case...... Yang Haifan nodded, noncommittal.

"Second, robots are able to do some very hard and harmful jobs that are harmful to human health, such as welding and painting, which I just talked about, which can cause damage to the operator, and robots don't have to worry about that. Vanek continued.

Yang Haifan still smiled and did not comment.

"Thirdly, the use of robots also helps to improve production efficiency. Ordinary workers feel fatigue at work, which leads to a decrease in productivity. Robots, on the other hand, never get tired, and can work almost non-stop for hundreds of hours in a row, except for some regular maintenance. ”

"So, will there be some difference in the performance and quality of the product by replacing workers with robots?" Yang Haifan asked.

"Of course, there will be some differences, and the operation of the robot, of course, is not as good as that of a senior technician, so there will definitely be some slight impact on the quality of the product," Vanek said. However, as far as I know, many factories have workers and robots working together, and workers are mainly responsible for correcting some mistakes or deficiencies in the operation of robots, so that the quality of the products will not deteriorate significantly. ”

"You're saying that the use of robots will lead to a decrease in product quality?...... Well, even if it's just a slight drop. Yang Haifan asked with some hesitation.

"Yes, but this drop in quality is insignificant. Vanek replied.

"Oh, I see......" Yang Haifan replied thoughtfully. Vanek's answer was obviously very different from what he had previously envisioned, and this answer also gave him some new ideas.

When Fu Lang and Fei learned to walk on the street, Feng Xiaochen asked Yang Haifan with a smile: "Haifan, what do you think of seeing those robots just now?" ”

"Advanced, it's too advanced. Yang Haifan said sincerely.

"Yes, compared with the developed countries in the West, we are too backward. Feng Xiaochen echoed.

Yang Haifan changed his words and said: "However, after talking to Wanek, I am not so anxious. ”

"What do you mean?" Feng Xiaochen asked puzzled.

Yang Haifan said: "I originally thought that the use of robots to assist production can improve the quality of production, just like we use CNC machine tools instead of traditional machine tools, some precision operations we can't do, with CNC machine tools can do." But Vanek's reply to me was that robots can only save money by replacing workers, and that there are no significant advantages in product performance and quality in terms of labor protection. This means that if we don't use robots, it won't lead to inferior quality products to the West. And in terms of cost, we don't really care, you say?"

A smile appeared on Feng Xiaochen's face, Yang Haifan's words were really true. The large number of automated equipment in Western countries is largely due to the choice of rising labor costs. China is a poor country, and the cost of labor is not even a tenth of that of the West, so there is no need to worry about this at all.

After deducting the savings in labor costs, robots are like chicken ribs for Chinese companies. The procurement cost is too high, many enterprises can not afford it, and the labor saved is not worth much, even less than the expenditure on the maintenance and repair of the robot, in this case, what do Chinese companies need robots for?

Of course, the application of robots also has an advantage, that is, to carry out operations under harsh conditions, such as high temperature, toxic and other operations, which is conducive to the health of workers. For example, Western countries have long started mechanized coal mining, while China still has a large number of manual operations, and thousands of coal miners die every year because of mining accidents. Welfare is a luxury, and the economic level has not reached this level, so let's not think about welfare for the time being.

"Haha, Haifan, you're right, robots don't mean anything to us at all right now. I was worried that you would want to do this after you finished visiting. Feng Xiaochen said to Yang Haifan half-jokingly and half-seriously.

Yang Haifan replied seriously: "Xiaochen, you are really right, I was really thinking about robots just now, but not now, but in the future." ”