CITIC Securities: Investment Prospects of Humanoid Robots

According to the Dolphin Research APP, CITIC Construction Investment has released a research report stating that several local governments have introduced financial support for the listed flagship projects, which is expected to accelerate the breakthrough in key core technologies and industrialization of humanoid robots. At the same time, this list of projects targets the major technological difficulties in the industry, which will help domestic manufacturers seize the commanding heights in international competition and enhance their voice in the humanoid robot industry chain. It is recommended to pay attention to two types of companies: 1) companies with strong technical strength and proven success, with a high degree of certainty in participating in the humanoid robot market in the future; 2) manufacturers with similar technology products, which may expand horizontally and enter the humanoid robot industry chain.

Event: On September 13, 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice on organizing the listing and flagship work of future industrial innovation tasks in 2023, including four key directions: metaverse, humanoid robots, brain-computer interfaces, and general artificial intelligence.

The main points of CITIC Construction Investment are as follows:

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology carries out the "listing and flagship" work in four frontier areas including humanoid robots

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is organizing the listing and flagship work of future industrial innovation tasks, including four directions: metaverse, humanoid robots, brain-computer interfaces, and general artificial intelligence. In order to accelerate the development of future industrial innovation, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is organizing the declaration of listing and flagship tasks for future industrial innovation tasks. This listing task is mainly aimed at the two frontier areas of future manufacturing and future information, focusing on metaverse, humanoid robots, brain-computer interfaces, and general artificial intelligence. A total of 52 specific tasks such as core foundations, key products, public support, and demonstration applications are focused on, to discover and cultivate a batch of units that master key core technologies and have strong innovation capabilities, break through a batch of landmark technological products, and accelerate the landing and application of new technologies and products.

The humanoid robot listing and flagship list includes four types: core foundations, key products, public support, and typical applications. The humanoid robot listing and flagship tasks include:

1. Core foundations, including whole-body dynamic control algorithms, motor drivers, force sensors, MEMS attitude sensors, and tactile sensors. Focus on the research and development of small-sized, efficient, and high-performance core components to promote the industrial application of core components; form a high-dynamic walking control method for humanoid robots based on whole-body dynamic control algorithms and conduct experimental verification on humanoid robot physical platforms.

2. Key products, including rotary electric drive joints, linear electric drive joints, robotic arms and dexterous hands, high-performance controllers with high computing power, and high-energy density batteries. Rotary joints, linear joints, robotic arms, and dexterous hands need to achieve high burst and high power density joint performance for humanoid robots; research and develop open controller software for high-performance controllers to achieve modular scalability of advanced algorithms; high-energy density batteries need to achieve miniaturization and lightweight design of battery packs while meeting the requirements of high instantaneous power and long continuous working time for humanoid robots.

3. Public support, including end-to-end simulation development platforms for humanoid robots, standards, testing, and evaluation, and machine brain intelligent control technology.

4. Typical applications, including typical applications for industrial manufacturing, disaster relief, hazardous operations, smart logistics, security patrols, and service entertainment, improve the operational efficiency of traditional production processes and promote the application of humanoid robots in emerging fields.

"The 'Jiebang Guashuai' initiative is expected to bring financial support to the field of humanoid robots, benefiting technological progress, seizing the industrial chain, and expanding the market."

Several local governments have introduced funding support plans for the "Jiebang Guashuai" initiative, which is expected to accelerate the breakthrough of key core technologies and industrialization of humanoid robots. In order to solve the "bottleneck" technical problems in current technological innovation, the "Jiebang Guashuai" initiative has rapidly emerged nationwide. Since 2016, General Secretary Xi has repeatedly emphasized that key core technology breakthroughs can be achieved through the "Jiebang Guashuai" initiative. Since 2021, several local governments have issued management measures for the "Jiebang Guashuai" initiative and proposed funding support plans for the initiative. For example, the Science and Technology Department of Shaanxi Province and the Science and Technology Department of Yunnan Province have stated that they will provide subsidies of up to 10 million yuan for the "Jiebang Guashuai" projects, and the amount of subsidies for special major issues will be determined on a case-by-case basis. This time, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's "Jiebang Guashuai" initiative for key areas such as humanoid robots, combined with the support policies of local governments, is expected to provide more financial support for humanoid robot projects, effectively reducing the R&D pressure on humanoid robot enterprises and accelerating the breakthrough of key core technologies and industrialization of humanoid robots.

"The 'Jiebang Guashuai' initiative for the future industry of humanoid robots is conducive to leading domestic manufacturers in achieving major technological progress, seizing the commanding heights of international competition, and accelerating market expansion."

1. Leading major technological progress: The "Jiebang Guashuai" initiative is conducive to integrating and optimizing the allocation of technological resources in the field of humanoid robots, widely gathering advantageous research and development forces, and organizing efficient solutions to technological problems in the field of humanoid robots.

2. Seizing the commanding heights of international competition: Domestic enterprises, universities, and research institutions have deep technological accumulation in the core components and key products of humanoid robots, and domestic enterprises have obvious advantages in rapid product development, rapid production expansion, and stable supply capabilities. They are expected to occupy an important position in the industrial chain of humanoid robots.

3. Driving market expansion: Humanoid robots are one of the most promising applications of AI. It is estimated that when the humanoid robot industry matures, the corresponding annual market size will reach trillions of yuan.