Boonray Technology: Small scenes usher in the era of ubiquitous robots丨Peoples Daily Online

As the scale of industry expands, tedious and inefficient manual inspections are increasingly failing to meet the demands of industries like photovoltaics, power generation, bridge construction, and construction. New technologies are urgently needed, and over the past few years, more and more industries have begun experimenting with the use of intelligent robots.

After nearly a decade of development, intelligent robots are not only present on production lines in factories but have also permeated everyday life, including clothing, housing, and transportation. However, the functional components of most robots currently in use are heterogeneous and distributed, making them unable to communicate and collaborate. This makes them inadequate for complex scenarios such as photovoltaic inspection, mining, and urban management.

Thus, the third generation of robotics—ubiquitous robots—came into being.

Traditional Robot Applications Hit a Bottleneck

"After three years of inspections, I still haven't discovered so many problems every day. But with the smart photovoltaic solution, I can achieve better results with just the touch of a button than I could in a year." This is the exclamation of a photovoltaic power station operator after witnessing the application of ubiquitous robotics in the photovoltaic industry.

The industry generally believes that ubiquitous robotics is the product of the integration of componentized robotics with networking. Its emergence stems from needs arising from scenarios where traditional robots are unable to perform. Because it represents a qualitative leap in traditional robotics research and development, it is known as third-generation robotics technology.

It is understood that during the initial survey of traditional photovoltaic power plants, calculations for the plant are typically performed by referencing existing building plans and design drawings and manually measuring dimensions.

Due to the unique nature and complexity of the industry, traditional robots are not suitable for the post-production operation and maintenance of photovoltaic products. For the past decade, post-production maintenance of photovoltaic products has relied solely on manual inspections, which also present numerous challenges.

The vast area covered by photovoltaic products, along with the fact that inspections are susceptible to factors such as climate, make traditional manual inspections extremely inefficient. Furthermore, during inspections, equipment operating conditions are largely judged based on the experience of operators, leading to significant bias in the results. It is understood that my country spends approximately 10 billion yuan annually on photovoltaic operation and maintenance.

Similar issues also arise in the mining industry. Traditional mining requires humans to operate excavators to mine in the mountains, and then to operate mining trucks to transport ore and other materials. Due to the complex geological conditions in mining areas, there is a constant risk of landslides and falling rocks. These hidden safety issues have long been criticized. Some mines are even unable to recruit workers due to these issues.

The application of ubiquitous robotics technology has the potential to address these industry challenges. Simply put, the application involves first transforming traditional equipment into intelligent "robots," then integrating them with IoT, cloud computing, and other technologies on a cloud platform, enabling data exchange and collaborative operation among multiple machines. Compared to individual robots, ubiquitous robotics focuses more on multi-robot collaboration and environmental intelligence.

However, because this technology is more holistic and involves a wide range of specialized technologies, unlike the robotics market for single-application scenarios like industrial and service robots, the ubiquitous robotics field has relatively little experience. The concept is relatively new, and few manufacturers are exploring or experimenting with it.

Machine Connectivity

Fortunately, companies are already conducting in-depth research in this area, such as Boonray Technology. Currently, Boonray Technology's products serve multiple vertical sectors, including photovoltaic inspection, mining operations, and industrial park management.

"The focus of ubiquitous robotics technology isn't on data collection or the complexity of the robots, but rather on machine-to-machine communication and the collaborative interaction between robots and humans. Simply put, we prefer the design of the entire system," said Hu Xinyi, founder and CEO of Boonray Technology.

Take unmanned inspection of photovoltaic power stations as an example. Based on the needs of this scenario, Boonray Technology has equipped drones with networked automatic control modules and onboard intelligent modules, enabling them to automatically take off and land, collect data, and even charge automatically when connected to a drone landing pad. This hardware also enhances the drone's data collection, transmission, and processing capabilities.

Powered by this hardware, apps developed by Boonray Technology can also implement functions such as route planning, flight area restrictions, cloud connectivity, and account control. Combined with the "Boonray Cloud" processing platform, drones can also quickly identify photovoltaic panel defects using infrared light.

As shown in the image above, Boonray's photovoltaic drone-based intelligent inspection system addresses inspection challenges such as the vast size of the power plant, the rugged terrain, the difficulty of manual access, and susceptibility to climate change. This significantly reduces labor costs and improves inspection efficiency. Boonray Technology's photovoltaic intelligent inspection solution can achieve 100% inspection of 20MW per day, 10 times the efficiency of manual inspection.

Based on the successful implementation of the drone project, Boonray Technology's ubiquitous robotics technology has also been extended to automated transportation within the mine. Broadly speaking, Boonray Technology's "smart mine" solution can be divided into two parts: "aboveground" and "underground." "Aboveground" involves using drones to scan the entire mine area, constructing a high-precision mine map using technologies such as 3D modeling, and establishing a 5G network for the mine area.

"Underground" involves retrofitting traditional mining vehicles. Mine trucks are equipped with an automotive-grade multi-camera + LiDAR fusion perception system, coupled with a high-precision self-positioning system integrating vision, inertial navigation, and GPS/RTK, along with algorithms for obstacle recognition, path planning, and real-time feedback control. This enables autonomous driving, automatic obstacle avoidance, and automatic reversing on specific roads.

In addition, with dedicated roads and a centralized control center, mining dump trucks can be intelligently monitored and dispatched, enabling unmanned mining trucks to work in conjunction with 5G remote excavators. This will enable truly unmanned mines and fundamentally prevent casualties.

It is understood that the "Smart Mine Unmanned Transportation" solution has been commercially implemented at a large mine in Luoyang, with a total of 40 unmanned mining trucks in operation, achieving a monthly production capacity of 500,000 tons. In the future, Boonray Technology will continue to deepen its development and implementation of "Smart Mine" scenarios.

Boonray Technology is also involved in public space management. Boonray Technology leverages drones, the Internet of Things, AI, image recognition, and other technologies to develop customized urban management solutions.

Simply put, Boonray Technology builds a realistic three-dimensional map based on the current urban system. It then applies geographic data to the entire area, creating a clear, layered model. This system also boasts a robust database, allowing city managers to clearly visualize historical changes.

In this specialized solution for urban public space management, Boonray Technology has pioneered an aerial patrol mode. This "bird's-eye view" monitors blind spots such as traffic, waterways, illegal parking, and trampling. At Zhangjiang AI Island, Boonray Technology also integrates drone inspections with security robots, unmanned boats, underwater robots, and various campus sensors, enabling collaboration among multiple robots and sensors.

Boonray Technology CEO Hu Xinyi stated that this solution can be used for public safety management, river management monitoring, and other applications. It is understood that this "Smart City Management Solution" has already been implemented in several parks, including Yuhang Urban Management, Zhangjiang AI Island, and Shanghai's Xuhui District.

Currently, Boonray Technology has served over 200 well-known industry companies and has received millions of yuan in investment from Lianchuang Yongxuan, as well as tens of millions of yuan from 23seed and Tuojin Capital. In addition, the company has obtained more than 40 intellectual property rights and patents, and has a deep reserve of underlying architecture and algorithms. From Boonray Technology, we may be able to see the era of ubiquitous robots is just beginning.