Looking to have robots working in factories? The first step is to get them to pass the "pre-job training!" Recently, South China's first training ground for multimodal embodied intelligent robots officially opened in Shunde, Foshan.
So how exactly do these "robotic industrial workers" develop their skills?
Guided hands-on training in tasks such as sorting and inspecting bottled items is part of the introductory curriculum. Yet this only covers the "basics" — the core objective here is to enable robots to "think independently."
The sorting of these red and blue items, for example, is not done based on fixed instructions but is completed through the robots' independent judgment.
"For instance, if parts are accidentally misaligned, robots capable of 'thinking' won't grab blindly. Instead, they will pause and reassess the next operational steps," said the operator of the training ground and a person in charge of Zhongke Zidong Taichu.
In addition to offering "customized training" for "robotic industrial workers" tailored to enterprise needs, the training ground serves another crucial purpose — providing "generalization training." Put simply, the "robotic brains" trained here via data collection in the future are expected to be compatible with all robot models on the market.
Currently, the 1,200-square-meter first phase of the training ground has been commissioned. It will be expanded to over 5,000 square meters in subsequent phases, offering a larger space and enabling the teaching of more "skills."
For manufacturing executives struggling with their robots' "insufficient skills," they might consider sending their robots to Shunde for "advanced training" — once the robots complete the training and take up their roles, they could become the most reliable "industrial workers."
Reporter: Lan Zhiling
Video: Zhang Yanqing
Editor: Wei Shen, Ou Xiaoming, Liu Lingzhi, James Campion, Shen He
