Benefiting from the rise of humanoid robots, hollow cup motors welcome opportunities for domestic substitution.
On August 16th, the 2023 World Robot Conference opened in Beijing, and multiple humanoid robots such as Ubiquitous, Xiaomi, Dati, Zhuimi, Zhejiang University, etc. will be showcased, attracting much attention to the development of humanoid robots.
Guo Qianqian, Chief Analyst of the Machinery Industry at Anxin Securities, pointed out that robots are mainly divided into two parts: software and hardware. Software is the brain of robots, mainly consisting of large models, including training systems, etc. The hardware end is mainly composed of a battery pack and various joints, such as rotary joints, linear joints, and hand joints.
Hollow cup motors have become a popular field for the application of joint parts in humanoid robots, and were also applied to Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot last year, opening up market imagination.
What is a hollow cup motor? What is the development trend of the industry? What opportunities does the domestic hollow cup industry face?
Micro motors not exceeding 40mm
Hollow cup motor is a DC permanent magnet servo control motor that uses a coreless rotor. Its name with the word "cup" is mainly because its rotor resembles a cup. Due to its excellent performance such as high energy conversion efficiency, low noise, small size, light weight, and good control performance, the hollow cup motor is also known as the "crown jewel" in the field of motors.
Especially in terms of small size, the hollow cup motor adopts a hollow rotor structure, which reduces the volume and weight of the motor, making it suitable for portable devices and small automation equipment. Generally, hollow cup motors with a diameter not exceeding 40mm can also be classified as micro motors.
Due to its special performance, hollow cups have a wide range of applications, covering medical, semiconductor, robotics and automation, aerospace, and military fields.
Hollow cup motors are widely used in commercial/household fields such as automotive electronics, 3C, smart homes, industrial equipment, etc., in products such as power tools, drones, smart door locks, electric toothbrushes, hair dryers, etc.
In the medical field, hollow cup motors are mainly used in devices such as hair follicle extractors, gastroscopy surgical robots, laboratory pipettes, reagent bottle openers, nutrient pumps, and tissue rotary cutters.
In the field of robotics and automation, hollow cup motors are used for electric grippers, robot joints, robot hands, logistics shuttle vehicles, deep well oilfield valves, rail mounted robots, etc.
Benefiting from the development of intelligent society and the continuous emergence of new technologies, the demand for hollow cup motors has increased, and the application space has been further opened up. According to NTCysd's calculation, the global market size of hollow cup motors in 2022 is 5.1 billion RMB; According to NTCysd, the market size is expected to reach RMB 8.3 billion by 2028, with a CAGR of approximately 8.5% during this period.
Benefiting from the rise of humanoid robots
The motor is one of the key components of robots, especially in the application of humanoid robots. Due to the small size of the fingers, joints, and other parts of humanoid robots, small-sized hollow cup motors highlight their advantages.
In addition, the joints of humanoid robots need to have high degrees of freedom and high-precision control capabilities, and hollow cup motors can meet these requirements. Hollow cup motors also have advantages such as high power density, high response speed, and high-precision control, making them suitable for various motion joints of humanoid robots.
For example, Tesla's Optimus robot uses a hollow cup motor. Its fingers use 6 actuators and 11 degrees of freedom, enabling flexible operation and precise control.
With the release of Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus in 2022, the imaginative space of hollow cup motors is once again opened up by dexterous hands.
In 2023, Tencent Robotics X Laboratory released its self-developed dexterous hands TRX Hand and TRX Arm, which have three fingers and eight independent control joints.
Yinshi Robot has also released its RH56BFX and RH56DFX series products, which have 6 degrees of freedom and 12 motion joints as a whole.
Overall, hollow cup motors have broad application prospects and market demand in the field of humanoid robots. Zhongjin believes that Tesla's humanoid robots are expected to drive a surge in demand for hollow cup motors and related winding equipment. With the commercialization and continuous mass production of humanoid robots in the future, the demand for hollow cup motors is expected to continue to increase.
Caitong Securities believes that as the end effector of robots, dexterous hands have high requirements for motor power density, volume, etc. Hollow cup motors may be widely used. Assuming that the sales of humanoid robots reach the level of 1 million in the future, the average price of hollow cup motors is around 800 yuan. Assuming that a single humanoid robot requires 12 hollow cup motors, the corresponding market size for hollow cup motors required by humanoid robots is about 9.6 billion yuan, creating a larger market for hollow cup motors.
Overseas enterprises dominate, with 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, their production equipment and processes are relatively advanced.
The major manufacturers in the industry, Maxon, Faulhaber, Portescap, and Allied Motion Technologies, hold over 65% of the market share, and the competitive landscape is highly concentrated.
Among them, Maxon, a Swiss company that has been deeply involved in the industry for many years, was founded in 1961. Its hollow cup products range in diameter from 4-90mm and power from 0.3-650w, including brushed and brushless hollow cup motors, planetary gearboxes, sensors, encoders, etc. Its product supply areas cover medical, industrial control, security, automotive, aerospace, etc. At present, Maxon's business covers more than 40 countries worldwide, with approximately 3000 employees worldwide.
Faulhaber is an independent family run conglomerate in Germany. In 1958, Dr. Faulhaber designed a hollow cup motor product with diagonal winding method. The minimum diameter of its product can even reach 1.9mm.
On the domestic front, although the hollow cup motor market is developing rapidly, most companies' products are mainly concentrated in the mid to low end field, and market competition is relatively fierce.
Some domestic enterprises such as Mingzhi Electric (603728. SH), Dingzhi Technology, Hechuan Technology (688320. SH), and Tuobang Co., Ltd. (002139. SZ) have certain competitiveness in the field of hollow cup motors, but there are few enterprises with the ability to mass produce hollow cup motors.
In June 2023, Dingzhi Technology disclosed in its research that its linear transmission and hollow cup motor products have potential applications in the humanoid robot and dexterous hand markets.
At present, Dingzhi Technology has achieved fully automatic mass production of hollow cup motors and can provide customized products and components according to customers' different needs. Multiple samples are currently in the testing phase.
Another industry enterprise, Topband Group, has been expanding its motor business since 2007. The company also acquired a research and control subsidiary specializing in drive and motion control in 2016, quickly entering the industrial control field.
At present, Tuobang Group's motor and drive product types include hollow cup motors, DC brushless motors and servo/stepper systems, with the ability to provide an integrated solution of motor body+drive/control.
The company's hollow cup motor has been widely applied in intelligent manufacturing of electric grippers, orthopedic power tools for medical and health, and intelligent follow-up of golf carts.
The downstream application fields have also expanded from mid to high end industrial, professional, and automotive application fields to application fields such as robotics.
Topband Corporation stated that robot applications are a promising direction for the company, and its commercial stir fry robots have been shipped in bulk; There are different applications of components in the fields of cleaning robots, service robots, industrial robots, etc., mainly including controllers, motors, drives, and other products.
Compared to the existing robot applications mentioned above, humanoid robots integrate advanced technologies such as AI and machine vision, bringing great opportunities to the industry. However, they are still in the early stages of industrialization. In the future, with the implementation of supportive policies and the accelerated development of the industry, the demand for core components will increase. The company is optimistic about the opportunities brought by robot applications.
