The next day, Feng Xiaochen and Yang Haifan began to investigate in Germany.

Their trip to Europe had several purposes.The first is financing, this matter after talking with Feng Hua, it was completely handed over to him to operate, which is completely reassuring.The second is to visit some of the research institutes and factories in Europe to understand the technical conditions of others, this one is much more important to Yang Haifan than to Feng Xiaochen, after all, Feng Xiaochen is a traversal, has seen a lot of world.There is also a task, is to purchase some equipment in Europe, according to Feng Xiaochen's requirements, most of them are second-hand equipment, this task has been handed to Feng Shuyi, she will help Feng Xiaochen they inquire about the source of second-hand equipment, there is accurate news and then by Feng Xiaochen they go to negotiate.

Before leaving China, Feng Xiaochen had already made an international long-distance call to Feng Hua and entrusted him with help to contact some visiting places.Using his relationship and the connections he had saved in the past, Feng Xiaochen helped Feng Xiaochen contact some research institutions, including the University of Munich, the University of Stuttgart, the Aachen Higher Institute of Technology, in addition to the Bavarian Engine Factory, the Pu Mei Company and other enterprises for their visit.As soon as Feng Xiaochen arrived in Germany, he informed Perman of Filok Company to come to them as a guide, accompanied by a German, and many things would be better.

“Gentlemen, it is a great honor to introduce to you the Industrial Robots Group of our Institute, which currently has 45 members, including 15 robots, and don’t look clumsy, but each robot has its own character.”

Professor Vanek, director of the Institute of Production Technology and Automation at the German Fu Luang and Feifa Society, humorously introduced his department to Feng Xiaochen and others.This is a body specializing in industrial robot research, with a large number of test equipment, can test the working speed, noise, vibration, trajectory form, accuracy, etc. of industrial robots, and record the test results, forming a complete database, used to guide the robot's choice.

“Is that a robot?”Yang Haifan looked at a machine that was foolishly doing movements on the test platform and asked Feng Xiaochen in a low voice.

“Yes, if I am not mistaken, it should be a transport robot specifically designed to move workpieces between different processes.”Feng Xiaochen introduced.The robots of this era are too low-end compared to the future generations, and the work tasks that can be carried out are very simple and the action is not flexible.In the future, the sweeping robots used in future families look more dexterous than these robots.

Yang Haifan was stunned, and the robot's intelligence obviously made him feel shocked.He is also good to have seen some automation equipment, Chenyu Bearing company has a lot of imported CNC machine tools from Germany, is already a bit of intelligent appearance, but compared with the intelligence of the robot, or a lot of difference.Chenyu company used CNC machine tools in the whole of Nanjiang Province are small and famous, many state-owned engineers have visited, so that Yang Haifan feel that this is the performance of high-tech, and now see the robot of others, he knew that he is really a frog at the bottom of the well.

“I always thought that robots were just science fiction stuff, and I didn’t think... well, but science fiction robots are different from these robots.”Yang Haifan said to Feng Xiaochen.In China, the concept of robots does exist only in science fiction, and generally refers to the kind of humanoid robots with square brains and hands and feet.In fact, industrial robots have nothing in common with people, just a machine with a certain intelligence.

"At present, flexible manufacturing systems in the Western industry has been widely used, the traditional CNC machining center for high-volume manufacturing products have advantages, but with the increasing individual requirements of users, the batch of industrial products is getting smaller and smaller, and even a large number of single-piece production requirements have appeared."In this case, only a flexible manufacturing system can adapt to the new form.

In flexible manufacturing systems, industrial robots are an essential component.In the field of construction machinery, the two processes of welding and painting in Western factories have been completely handed over to the robot, and the operation of the CNC production line is increasingly controlled by the robot.The transport robots you see now, using lasers for automatic guidance, are able to drive freely in a large workshop and speed up the transmission of workpieces.

However, the assembly of large-scale construction machinery is still achieved by humans, and the robot technology for equipment assembly is still a difficult point.At present, robots are mainly responsible for some auxiliary work in the assembly process, such as automatic control of the crane, which can save a lot of strength of workers.

Vanek is very enthusiastic to introduce the application of industrial robots to the guests, because they know that Feng Xiaochen is engaged in construction machinery, so he also particularly focused on the use of robots in construction machinery manufacturing.He had some friendship with the Feng family, barely able to be regarded as a student of the harp, and later had been doing scientific research in the field of mechanics, and he was very familiar with the relationship with the harp, and even with Feng Xiaochen, they were quite enthusiastic.

“Mr. Vanek, what do you think are the main benefits of using robots in industrial production?”Yang Haifan asked.

Vanek: “The benefits are obvious.First, the use of robots can greatly reduce costs.Although the one-time investment used is relatively large, for a long time to come, the factory will reduce the number of workers, thus saving a lot of labor costs.”

“That’s it...” Yang Haifan nodded, not sure.

“Secondly, robots are capable of doing very difficult and harmful work to the detriment of human health, such as welding and painting, as I just mentioned, can cause damage to operators, and robots need not worry about that.”Vanek continued to say.

Yang Haifan was still smiling and did not comment.

Third, the use of robots can also help improve production efficiency.Ordinary workers feel fatigue at work, which leads to a decline in productivity.Robots, on the other hand, never feel tired, and they can work for hundreds of hours almost every moment.”

"So, with robots to replace workers, will there be any difference in the performance and quality of the product?"Yang Haifan asked.

Vanek said: "Of course, there will be some differences, the operation of the robot, of course, not as high as the level of senior technicians, so there will certainly be some slight impact on product quality."However, as far as I know, many factories are produced by workers and robots, and workers are mainly responsible for correcting some mistakes or shortcomings in robot operation, so that the quality of the product will not be significantly reduced.”

“You’re saying that using robots can lead to a decline in product quality?”Well, even if it's only a slight drop."Yang Haifan asked hesitantly.

“Yes, but this decline in quality is insignificant.”Vanek replied.

“Oh, I understand...” Yang Haifan responded thoughtfully.Vanek’s answer was obviously very different from what he had imagined before, and this answer gave him some new ideas.

When he learned from Fu Luang and Fei, walking on the street, Feng Xiaochen smiled and asked Yang Haifan, "Sea sail, just saw those robots, how do you feel."

"Advanced, too advanced."Yang Haifan said sincerely.

"Yes, we are too far behind the developed countries in the West."Feng Xiaochen joined the road.

Yang Haifan turned around and said, "But after talking to Vanek, I was not so anxious."

“What do you mean?”Feng Xiaochen asked incredulously.

Yang Haifan said: "I originally thought that the use of robot-assisted production, can make the quality of production improved, just like we use CNC machine tools instead of traditional machine tools, some precision operations we can not do, with CNC machine tools can be done."But Vanek's answer to me is that robots can only save money on the cost of replacing workers, and the advantages of labor protection, and there is no significant advantage in product performance and quality.This also means that we do not use robots, and will not lead to the quality of the product is not as good as the West.And the cost, we don’t really care, you say?”

There was a smile on Feng’s face, and Yang Haifan’s words were really in the words.The large-scale adoption of automated equipment in Western countries is largely due to the lackluster choice of rising labor costs.China is a poor country, and labor costs can not reach even one-tenth of the Western, there is no need to worry about this problem.

Excluding labor costs, robots are like chicken ribs for Chinese companies.The procurement cost is too high, many companies can not afford, and the labor saved is not valuable, or even less than the expenditure of maintenance and maintenance of robots, in this case, Chinese enterprises need robots for what?

Of course, the application of robots also has the advantage of performing operations under harsh conditions, such as high temperature, toxic and other operations, which is conducive to the health of workers.But what is the wrong thing to say about a poor country, and what is the right to talk about this kind of welfare?For example, Western countries have long begun to mechanize coal mining, and China still has a large number of manual operations, and thousands of coal miners die every year because of mining difficulties.Welfare is a luxury, the economic level does not reach this level, or do not ponder welfare things for the time being.

"Haha, Haifan, you are very right, this kind of thing, robots, now for us has no meaning at all."I was just worried that when you were done visiting, I was thinking about doing this."Feng Xiaochen half-joking and half-seriously said to Yang Haifan.

Yang Haifan replied seriously: "Wing Chen, you really said wrong, I just did think about the robot, but not now, but the future."