Wang Xiaofeng carried out industrial robot debugging in the C2 workshop of SIASUN Smart Park. Photo by Zhang Yupeng, correspondent of this newspaper.
Shenyang, Liaoning Province, in the middle of winter, the reporter came to the production workshop of Shenyang SIASUN Robot Automation Co., Ltd., which is located in Hunnan District, and the scene in front of me is quite a sci-fi blockbuster: the "Chinese red" arm flying up and down and the yellow mobile robot "work together" - the robot is producing robots.
Wang Xiaofeng, a doctor craftsman and senior director of SIASUN Company's ** Research Institute, is the person who equipped these industrial robots with "brains".
Six years ago, 28-year-old Wang Xiaofeng took off his doctoral gown at Northeastern University and put on a blue overalls to become a R&D staff at SIASUN. The front-line of production and design has allowed him to grow rapidly and emerge in the field of advanced control algorithms and intelligent application process research and development of robotic arms.
The robot designed by Wang Xiaofeng and his colleagues can move large equipment weighing dozens of tons, perform delicate operations with errors calculated in microns, and can also replace workers in high-radiation, high-temperature operating environments. The robots they developed are changing the way factories and workers work in the world.
On November 8, 2023, SIASUN Robot's R&D team, including Wang Xiaofeng, was awarded the title of "Model of the Times" by the Propaganda Department of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Spiritual Civilization Office.
Take off your doctor's gown and put on your overalls.
When he graduated from his Ph.D., Wang Xiaofeng had many employment options, and many of his classmates chased the heat and chose to work in large Internet companies.
However, Wang Xiaofeng's heart has never wavered. "I majored in control theory and control engineering, and the teachers in the research group all have a background in working in enterprises, and manufacturing enterprises are the best platform for me to display my skills. ”
In addition to wanting to apply what he has learned, a documentary called "The Heavy Weapon of a Great Power" also strengthened Wang Xiaofeng's choice.
This documentary, which shows the innovation and development process of China's equipment manufacturing industry, records the "soul figures" in the transformation and upgrading of equipment manufacturing enterprises such as industrial workers, engineers, and scientific researchers, and their struggles and dreams make Wang Xiaofeng have the urge to join it. The accumulation of 10 years of hard work in the cold window made him eager to show his strength in the production line.
After joining the company, Wang Xiaofeng, who was originally full of ambition, quickly realized his shortcomings.
Learn the robot operation manual, understand the industry terminology, and master the ...... of the robotic arm control software programming specificationsHe eagerly searched for information and asked his colleagues for advice. However, for Wang Xiaofeng, this is precisely the charm of scientific research - trekking in unfamiliar fields, mastering the rules and rules through learning and exploration, there will be frustration along the way, and there will be unexpected surprises.
"New Product Development for Power Exoskeleton Robots" was the first project he was involved in.
This is an assistive robot developed for postoperative training of patients with brain injury, which can select the gait according to the patient's height, weight and other parameters, and support the training forms such as standing up, sitting, and walking.
In the process of research and development, Wang Xiaofeng was taught another lesson by reality.
In the past, the parameters written in books and taught by teachers were ideal values, but there will be machining deviations in the actual machining process, so the errors need to be taken into account when designing.
In the collision of theory and application, Wang Xiaofeng truly felt the joy of applying what he had learned.
"Fight monsters and upgrade" on the road of scientific research
In 2018, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the "Unveiling the Leader" project - research on a new generation of intelligent industrial robots, and SIASUN is one of the participating units.
The company handed over the project to Wang Xiaofeng's team. At that time, there were 8 members of the project team, all of whom were young people who had been in the company for two or three years. The last thing they lack is the courage to dare to fight.
This group of young people continued to make trial and error on the road of scientific research, "fighting monsters and upgrading", and finally found the optimal algorithm, and won the first place in the project among the companies that were unveiled at the same time.
10 seconds is a snap of a finger, but it is extremely difficult to make an industrial robot improve the beat of 10 seconds on the production line.
In March 2023, a domestic car company approached SIASUN and proposed to customize a set of robots to fill the domestic gap - a 210-kilogram heavy-duty spot welding robot automobile assembly line. In the face of the urgent needs of customers, SIASUN finally entered the production line testing stage after more than half a year of research and development. However, a new problem arose – the welding quality and data communication met the customer's needs, but the cycle time was 10 seconds slower, disrupting the cycle time of the entire line.
Wang Xiaofeng's team was ordered to be in danger.
The robot hardware cannot be changed, the cost of the controller cannot be increased, and the stable performance must be ensured after the speed is ......A bunch of restrictions were placed in front of Wang Xiaofeng and the team.
The answer is there, there are many ways to get there, and no one knows which one is a shortcut, so they can only verify it repeatedly. "In the face of many difficulties, they used stupid methods.
Wang Xiaofeng drew all the running data of the robot in three-dimensional space with software and tried one plan by one. In a laboratory at the end of the workshop, welding engineer Zhou Bin inspired Wang Xiaofeng that "the arc bend of the robot's motion trajectory is more stable than the right-angle bend".
After repeated deductions, Wang Xiaofeng led the team to revise ** overnight, and early the next morning, the real machine experiment was successful.
In addition to being excited, Wang Xiaofeng posted 4 words in his "circle of friends": The road is simple.
Develop "tools that work" for workers
The research and development of industrial robots is a learning process from the outside in, and Wang Xiaofeng is getting closer and closer to that core.
Faced with lengthy **, a lot of data, and complex formulas every day, Wang Xiaofeng is immersed in it and enjoys himself.
In his hands, multiple projects are alternately underway.
He is often suddenly pulled into a technical discussion group, and immediately starts brainstorming with everyone in the group, "No one cares who is leading the project, just hopes to solve the problem as soon as possible".
In the past few years, Xiaofeng has tried different fields around robot controllers, and finally he insists on returning to the performance improvement of industrial robots that he wants to do the most. In the eyes of Sun Mingze, vice president of SIASUN ** Research Institute, Wang Xiaofeng is very pure, has a clear sense of purpose in his work, and is very persistent.
Worldwide, the absolute positioning accuracy of industrial robots is an important indicator reflecting the technical level of robot controllers. If our robots want to gain a foothold in high-end applications, they must continuously improve their accuracy. Wang Xiaofeng told reporters that he is now focusing on the research and development of welding robots.
Wang describes his job as making "useful tools" for workers.
In the future, he and his team are developing a new generation of control system software that will improve the spot welding cycle, process accuracy and welding quality of welding robots on automotive production lines.
For Wang Xiaofeng, the motivation for scientific research is direct and simple.
Seeing that the customer's production application scenario has undergone real changes, the labor intensity of workers has been decreasing, and the production efficiency has been continuously improved, this is the value of scientific research. Wang Xiaofeng said.
The vigorous talent team is the core support for the company's continuous innovation. Zhang Jin, president of SIASUN Company, expects that with better hard power and soft environment, more and more "Maxima" like Wang Xiaofeng will compete in the fertile soil of innovation of manufacturing enterprises.
Dialogue. Q: How do you view the growth of highly educated talents rooted in the production line?
Answer: Highly educated talents take root in the production line, not to overkill, but to apply what they have learned. Taking my major in control theory and control engineering as an example, the research object is all kinds of controllers, and the manufacturing enterprises and production lines are naturally the fertile soil for my innovation and creation. In fact, no matter what kind of profession you are engaged in, experience at the grassroots level and in the front line is a valuable asset for growth. Highly educated talents sinking in the front line will not only not appear "unadaptable", but can get the help of transforming from high education to high ability, and move from the production line to the top of innovation.
Q: How to give full play to the main role of enterprises in cultivating "digital craftsmen"?
Answer: First of all, it is necessary to change the concept of the enterprise and learn to calculate the "long-term account" in the cultivation of talents. In reality, after enterprises introduce smart devices, the most lacking thing is talents with "digital skills". However, many enterprises are worried that the talents cultivated in a time-consuming and laborious manner will be poached, and they are unwilling to invest in talent cultivation. In fact, in the long run, after the "digital skills" level of technical and skilled personnel are improved, they can better control smart devices and enhance the competitiveness of enterprises, and the high-quality development of enterprises will also make talents choose to stay because they see the development prospects of enterprises. Secondly, for enterprises that increase investment in cultivating "digital craftsmen", relevant departments can consider giving preferential policies in terms of taxation and rent, so as to further stimulate the enthusiasm of enterprises for cultivating talents. In addition, we can try to encourage R&D institutions and production enterprises to jointly build intelligent manufacturing demonstration production lines, provide testing and optimization platforms for related technologies and products, promote the transformation of relevant achievements, and give more artisan talents the opportunity to realize the transformation from traditional craftsmen to "digital craftsmen".
Dictation: Wang Xiaofeng Collation: Liu Xu).