On August 16, the 2023 World Robotics Conference opened in Beijing. A variety of humanoid robots from Youbixuan, Xiaomi, Dacheng, Chase, Zhejiang University, etc. will be unveiled. The development of humanoid robots has attracted much attention.

Guo Qianqian, chief analyst of Anxin Securities Machinery Industry, pointed out that robots are mainly divided into two parts: software and hardware. The software is the brain of the robot, and the links are mainly large models, including training systems. The hardware end is mainly composed of a battery pack and various joints, such as rotary joints, linear joints, and hand joints.

the hollow cup motor has become a hot field as the application of the joint part of the humanoid robot. last year, it was also applied to Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus, opening up the market imagination space.

What is a hollow cup motor? What is the development trend of the industry? What opportunities are the domestic hollow cup industry facing?

Micro motors not exceeding 40mm

The hollow cup motor is a DC permanent magnet servo motor with an ironless rotor. Its name is "cup" mainly because its rotor is shaped like a cup. Because of its high energy conversion efficiency, low noise, small size, light weight, good control performance and other excellent performance, the hollow cup motor is also known as the "crown jewel" in the motor field ".

Especially in terms of small size, since the hollow cup motor adopts the hollow rotor structure, the volume and weight of the motor can be reduced, and it is suitable for portable equipment and small automation equipment. Generally, the diameter of the hollow cup motor is not more than 40mm, and it can also be classified as a micro motor.

Due to its special performance, the hollow cup has a wide range of applications, covering medical, semiconductor, robotics and automation, aerospace, and military fields.

For example, in the commercial/household fields such as automotive electronics, 3C, smart home, industrial equipment, etc., hollow cup motors are widely used in power tools, drones, smart door locks, electric toothbrushes, hair dryers and other products.

In the medical field, hollow cup motors are mainly used for hair follicle extractors, gastroscope surgical robots, laboratory pipetting pumps, reagent bottle openers, nutrition pumps, tissue rotary cutters and other equipment.

In the field of robotics and automation, hollow cup motors are used for electric grippers, robot joints, robot hands, logistics shuttle cars, deep well oil field valves, and rail-hanging robots.

Benefiting from the development of intelligent society, the continuous emergence of new technologies, the demand for hollow cup motors has increased, and the application space has been further opened. According to NTCysd, the global hollow cup motor market will be 5.1 billion RMB in 2022. According to NTCysd, the market size will reach 8.3 billion RMB in 2028, with a CAGR of about 8.5 percent.

Benefit from the rise of humanoid robots

The motor is one of the key components of the robot, especially in the application of the humanoid robot, because the fingers, joints and other parts of the humanoid robot are relatively narrow, the small-size hollow cup motor highlights the advantages.

In addition, the joints of humanoid robots need to have high degrees of freedom and high-precision control capabilities, and the hollow cup motor can meet these requirements. The hollow cup motor also has the advantages of high power density, high response speed and high precision control, which is suitable for each motion joint of humanoid robot.

For example, Tesla's Optimus robot uses a coreless motor. Its fingers use 6 actuators, 11 degrees of freedom, to achieve flexible operation and precise control.

With the advent of Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus in 2022, the dexterous hand once again opens up the imagination of the hollow cup motor.

In 2023, Tencent Robotics X Laboratory released a self-developed dexterous hand TRX-Hand and TRX-Arm with three fingers and eight independently controlled joints.

The time-sensitive robot has also released its own RH56BFX series and RH56DFX series of products, with 6 degrees of freedom and 12 motion joints as a whole.

Overall, the hollow cup motor has a wide range of application prospects and market demand in the field of humanoid robots. CICC believes that Tesla humanoid robots are expected to drive the demand for hollow cup motors and related winding equipment. With the commercialization of humanoid robots in the future and the promotion of continuous mass production, the demand for hollow cup motors is also expected to usher in a sustained release.

Caitong Securities believes that the dexterous hand, as the end effector of the robot, has high requirements on the power density and volume of the motor, and the hollow cup motor may be widely used. Assuming that the average price of the hollow cup motor is about 800 yuan after the sales volume of the humanoid robot reaches 1 million level in the future, assuming that a single humanoid robot needs 12 hollow cup motors, the market size of the hollow cup motor required for the corresponding humanoid robot is about 9.6 billion yuan, creating a larger market for the hollow cup motor.

Dominated by overseas enterprises, high opportunities for domestic substitution

From the perspective of market development pattern, due to the early research and development of hollow cup motors by manufacturers such as Switzerland, Germany, and the United States, the production equipment and technology are relatively leading.

Major manufacturers in the industry, Maxon, Faulhaber, Portescap, and Allied Motion Technologies account for more than 65% of the market share, and the competitive landscape is highly concentrated.

among them, Maxon, a Swiss enterprise that has been deeply engaged in the industry for many years, was established in 1961. its hollow cup products have a diameter of 4-90mm and a power of 0.3-650w, including brushed and brushless hollow cup motors, planetary gearboxes, sensors, encoders, etc. its product supply fields cover medical treatment, industrial control, security protection, automobiles, aerospace, etc. Maxon currently operates in more than 40 countries and employs more than 3000 people worldwide.

German Faulhaber is an independent family-run group of companies. In 1958, Dr. Faulhaber designed a coreless motor product with diagonal winding. The minimum diameter of the product can even reach 1.9mm.

Domestically, although the hollow cup motor market is developing rapidly, most of the companies' products are mainly concentrated in the low-end field, and the market competition is relatively fierce.

some domestic enterprises such as Mingzhi Electric (603728.SH), Dingzhi Technology, Hechuan Technology (688320.SH), Topang (002139.SZ) have certain competitiveness in the field of hollow cup motors, but there are fewer enterprises with the capacity of mass production of hollow cup motors.

in June 2023, dingzhi technology disclosed in the survey that its products such as linear transmission and hollow cup motor have application potential in the market of humanoid robots and dexterous hands.

At present, Dingzhi Technology has realized full-automatic mass production of hollow cup motors, and can provide customized products and components according to different needs of customers. A number of samples are currently in the testing phase.

topang shares, another industry enterprise, has been laying out its motor business since 2007 . The company also acquired a research and control subsidiary in 2016, which is mainly engaged in drive and motion control, and quickly entered the field of industrial control.

At present, Topband's motor and drive product types include hollow cup motors, DC brushless motors, servo and stepping systems, with the ability to integrate motor body + drive/control solutions.

The company's hollow cup motors have been used in the fields of intelligent manufacturing of electric grippers, medical and health orthopedic power tools, and intelligent follow-up golf carts.

Downstream applications have also expanded from mid-to-high-end industrial, professional and automotive applications to applications such as robotics.

topang shares said that robot application is the company's promising application direction, the company's commercial cooking robots have been shipped in batches. There are applications of different components in cleaning robots, service robots, industrial robots and other fields, mainly controllers, motors, drives and other products.

compared with the above-mentioned original robot applications, humanoid robots integrate advanced technologies such as AI and machine vision, bringing good opportunities to the industry. but it is still in the early stage of industrialization . in the future, with the implementation of supporting policies and the accelerated development of the industry, the demand for core components will increase, and the company is optimistic about the opportunities brought by robot applications.

Li Ying