“As an important basic industry in the national economy, the steel industry has long production process chains and complex operating environments. It is the main battlefield for the large-scale implementation of robots and artificial intelligence (AI) and the industrial application of embodied intelligence.” Miao Changxing, former first-level inspector of the Equipment Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, put forward.
“Currently, robots have fully covered the entire production chain of steel mills, steelmaking, and steel rolling, replacing humans in high-risk positions such as high temperatures and high dust, which not only improves production safety but also stabilizes operation accuracy.” Miao Changxing recently said at the 7th Iron and Steel Industry Intelligent Manufacturing Conference and “Robot + Steel” Collaborative Application Innovation Seminar held in Wuhan that the implementation of large steel-specific models has accelerated, embodied intelligent algorithms have been integrated into the production line, and leading steel companies have achieved multi-link unmanned operations.
China’s steel industry has made outstanding achievements in the development of intelligent manufacturing.
Robots have become the core carrier of the digital and intelligent transformation of steel. Machine vision and robots have been applied on a large scale, and the application density of robots (including unmanned equipment) has reached 65 units per 10,000 people.
Song Zeqi, general manager of Wuhan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., pointed out that currently, the intelligent transformation of the steel industry is moving from “single point exploration” to “systematic promotion” and from “project demonstration” to “comprehensive popularization.”
By the end of 2024, 95% of key steel companies have incorporated digital transformation into their overall development strategies, 95% of companies have applied industrial Internet platforms, and the robot application density has reached 65 units (sets) per 10,000 people.
The coverage of high-temperature and high-risk positions with fewer people and unmanned personnel continues to increase, and the rate of production safety accidents has dropped significantly.
“At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation are accelerating, and embodied intelligence, humanoid robots, etc. have become the forefront of technological competition and industrial layout.” Li Yiren, vice president of the China Iron and Steel Industry Association, pointed out that steel companies, equipment manufacturers, algorithm research and development institutions and other forces should jointly open up the entire chain of technology research and development, industrial verification, standards and specifications, and form a “robot + steel” integrated development pattern that is demand-driven, technology-driven, and supported by standards, and help my country’s steel industry continue to maintain its leading edge in the global intelligent manufacturing competition.
Song Zeqi pointed out that looking forward to the “15th Five-Year Plan”, embodied intelligence is moving from the laboratory to industrialization, and from cutting-edge technology to large-scale application.
The deep integration of the steel industry and embodied intelligence is not only technological progress, but also the reshaping and reconstruction of the industrial ecology.
Chai Tianyou, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the Academic Committee of Northeastern University, said that with the development of intelligent technology, the traditional training ideas should be changed and a problem-based research model should be adopted, combined with industrial application scenarios, and industry, academia and research should cooperate closely to cultivate talents who combine disciplines and technology.
Miao Changxing proposed that promoting the development of intelligent manufacturing in the steel industry and accelerating the in-depth collaborative innovation of “robots + steel” requires efforts from multiple aspects.
First, accelerate the development of a new generation of intelligent steel manufacturing.
The new generation of intelligent manufacturing is the deep integration of the new generation of artificial intelligence technology and advanced manufacturing technology.
It is necessary to further accelerate the application of artificial intelligence technology, build high-quality data sets, develop a series of dynamic models covering the entire steel production process, build an artificial intelligence engineering application platform, provide intelligent solutions, and promote artificial intelligence to empower the entire process of the steel industry.
Secondly, speed up research on key core technologies.
Pay close attention to weak links such as the steel special robot body, high-temperature resistant components, and industry-specific embodied models, and encourage joint research between industry, academia, research, and the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to build an independent and controllable software and hardware system and consolidate the technical foundation.
Seize the opportunity of embodied intelligence, build an integrated intelligent operating system of perception-decision-execution-feedback-learning, and reshape the production paradigm.
At the same time, we will improve the collaborative ecology of the industrial chain.
Build a collaborative mechanism between government, industry, academia, and research, open up the entire chain of research and development, pilot testing, adaptation, application, and iteration, encourage steel leaders to open up scenarios, promote customized research and development of robots, and solve the problem of supply and demand adaptation.
Deepen the large-scale implementation of full-process scenarios, closely follow the needs of high-risk steel and complex environmental positions, and promote the extension of robots from single-point processes to the entire process.
Accelerate the development of standards for steel special robots, embodied intelligent applications, data and other fields, use standards to lead technology standardization and product generalization, and ensure the orderly development of the industry.
Zhang Longqiang, director of the Metallurgical Industry Information Standards Research Institute, emphasized that my country’s digital and intelligent steel transformation has achieved remarkable results, with multiple smart factories built and implemented, and smart manufacturing is the only way to go.
Facing the “15th Five-Year Plan”, it is necessary to use embodied intelligence to drive technological breakthroughs and support standard guidance to consolidate the foundation for industrial development.
Accelerate the improvement of intelligent manufacturing, industrial robots, and embodied intelligence standard systems, use standardization to drive scale and standardization, and enhance the overall competitiveness of the industry.
Promote the collaborative efforts of steel companies, scientific research institutes, robot manufacturers, and software platforms to form a development pattern of joint research on technology, joint construction of scenarios, sharing of results, and ecological win-win.
