In recent years, Japanese companies represented by Nabtesco have been accelerating the layout of core components in China, while domestic harmonic reducer manufacturers have begun to catch up.

　　In particular, the recent release of the national standard for "Harmonic Gear Reducers for Robots" has once again attracted widespread attention from the industry to domestic harmonic reducer companies.

　　The standard for "Harmonic Gear Reducers for Robots" mainly includes the classification principles, technical requirements, and performance indicators of harmonic gear reducers for robots, and standardizes the technical indicators such as product model, classification, temperature rise, and service life of harmonic reducers, as well as the corresponding test methods and equipment.

　　The formulation of the new standard will further guide the development of domestic harmonic reducers and play a certain promoting role.

　　Generally, reducers account for about 34% of the cost of a robot, which is a high proportion among all core components. However, the development of domestic reducers has been unsatisfactory, and reducers have been called the "nail household" and "difficult problem" in the development of domestic robots.

　　Many domestic robot manufacturers and integration business managers have stated that although the formulation of the new standard will inject new energy into the development of domestic harmonic reducer companies, their products still have a long way to go compared to foreign brands.

　　Key technologies are controlled by foreign companies

　　Currently, only three companies in the world can mass-produce harmonic reducers for robots: Harmonic Drive AG in Germany, responsible for sales in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and South America; Harmonic Drive L.L.C in the United States, responsible for sales in North America; and Harmonic Drive Systems Inc. in Japan, responsible for sales in the rest of the world. Harmonic Drive L.L.C in the US is wholly controlled by Harmonic Drive Systems Inc. in Japan, while Harmonic Drive AG in Germany is 30% controlled by Harmonic Drive Systems Inc. in Japan.

　　Therefore, the main industrial robot harmonic reducers are almost all controlled by Harmonic Drive Systems Inc. in Japan.

　　Since Harmonic Drive Systems Inc.'s products have dominated major international markets, they control market pricing. Harmonic Drive Systems Inc. has almost strict requirements for its partners. "Harmonic Drive Systems Inc. will sign a contract with each cooperating manufacturer, prohibiting the use or testing of other products during the Harmonic Drive supply period, otherwise the supply will be stopped." Currently, no robot company dares to challenge Harmonic Drive Systems Inc.'s threat.

　　It is understood that harmonic reducers are mainly used in articulated robots, and the shipment volume of industrial articulated robots has grown rapidly in the past two years, driving a surge in demand for related reducers. According to statistics, the global shipment volume of industrial articulated robot reducers was 730,000 units in 2013, a year-on-year increase of 6%; it is expected that the shipment volume of industrial articulated robot reducers will reach 820,000 units in 2014, a year-on-year increase of 12%.

　　However, although the demand for harmonic reducers is constantly growing, and profits are snowballing, most of the profits have fallen into the hands of Harmonic Drive Systems Inc. in Japan.

　　For domestic RV reducer companies, many factors such as weak technology, high manufacturing costs, low profits, and immature development have made their progress difficult, and they also face market and technological blockade from foreign companies, making their survival situation particularly difficult.

　　Domestic manufacturers face a difficult breakthrough

　　In fact, China's research on harmonic reducer technology can be traced back to the 1960s and 1970s.

　　As early as 1961, China had established the Beijing Transmission Research Institute to conduct research on harmonic drives, and some achievements were made. Later, six main researchers led by Li Keming, the project leader, respectively established harmonic drive companies represented by Beijing Zhongji Kemi Harmonic Drive Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhongji Kemi") and Beijing Harmonic Drive Technology Institute (hereinafter referred to as "Beijing Transmission Institute"), and successively developed various types of harmonic gear drive devices.

　　The products of these companies are mostly based on previous technologies. They are fine for general equipment, but they haven't kept up with the needs of robot development.

　　China's current manufacturing capacity of harmonic reducers is only equivalent to the level of Japan in the 1970s and 1980s. The main problems of the domestic harmonic drive industry are poor precision and precision retention capacity, poor load-bearing capacity, high noise, backward production equipment, few product types, small enterprise scale, insufficient R&D personnel and investment.

　　The "lifespan" of domestic reducers has been a technical bottleneck that has prevented many domestic robot manufacturers and system integrators from adopting domestic harmonic reducers. Because robots are very expensive, the lifespan of the corresponding core components has naturally become a key consideration for user companies.

　　The lifespan of robot reducers has two meanings: one is the actual lifespan of using the reducer until it breaks down, and the other is the precision lifespan, which refers to how many hours the harmonic reducer can continuously work before errors occur in precision. The upper limit of the qualified detection standard for harmonic reducers is 6000 hours of operation.

　　The difficulty lies in the application of harmonic reducers in robots. Reducer companies don't understand robots, and robot companies don't understand reducers. This information asymmetry prevents robots from forming a complete design, and the lifespan naturally cannot be optimized.

　　Currently, the difficulty in the development of domestic harmonic reducers is not in the lifespan or performance of the harmonic reducer itself, but in the application of the design principles of the user end during the use of the harmonic reducer. Data from the detection of domestic industrial robot harmonic products show that the lifespan is not much different from that of Japanese companies.

　　For example, foreign robot companies such as ABB and KUKA have accumulated a certain amount of time and experience in robot R&D and production. They have very strict industrial control processes in robot assembly and process equipment, down to the details of how many times a screw is tightened with an automatic torque wrench.

　　Domestic robots, due to their short development time and limited experience, coupled with the fact that the history of domestic industrial control equipment is far behind that of foreign countries, lack of a strict attitude in assembly details and precision control are all reasons for the difficulty in applying domestic harmonic reducers to robots.

　　This is also an important reason why many domestic and foreign robot companies prefer foreign products—foreign companies have mature setup and solution experience.

　　In addition, the long testing time cycle and high cost are another major difficulty in applying harmonic reducers to robots. Domestic robot companies generally lack a spirit of adventure. Compared to spending a long time and resources on testing new products, domestic robot companies mostly choose expensive but mature foreign products.

　　Hope to seize the market with price advantage

　　According to a recent report by the Nikkei Shimbun, Nabtesco, a Japanese giant in control equipment, will start producing core components for industrial robots in China from 2016. Japanese robot companies are constantly accelerating their layout in China, and the scope of the layout is gradually refined from robot bodies to core components.

　　Industry insiders question whether this will further exacerbate the challenges faced by domestic core component manufacturers, who are still in their infancy.

　　It is not difficult to see that enterprises choosing to use domestic harmonic reducers primarily consider the attractive Price factor of these reducers. However, as Japanese companies achieve localized production in China, the Price advantage of domestic harmonic reducers may cease to exist.

　　Therefore, finding a suitable path to break through is crucial for domestic harmonic reducer manufacturers.

　　In the opinion of many industry insiders, domestic harmonic reducer companies can establish partnerships with robot manufacturers and system integrators to jointly overcome technological barriers, leverage synergy effects, continuously reduce costs, and gradually improve the market pricing power of domestic manufacturers.