"ai + 3d" Into The Robot, In The Fusion Of 3d Chip Breakthrough "card Neck" Problem

With the arrival of Industry 4.0 and the era of intelligent manufacturing, the application of 3D machine vision in various industrial fields is becoming more and more important. In recent years, in order to accelerate the application of industrial vision in more scenarios and make industrial automation higher and higher, many machine vision companies have explored the combination of AI and 3D technology, and Centric Fusion is one of the leaders.
Zhongke fusion break through the "neck" problem with "AI+3D" chip technology
Recently, Wang Xuguang, founder of Zhongke Fusion Perceptual Intelligence Research Institute, said in an interview with WKN during the OFweek 2023 (12th) China Robotics Industry Conference that "AI+3D" has become a new engine for the whole robotics industry. 3D is a kind of data form, which makes the machine more flexible, and AI solves the problem of how to use the 3D data more effectively, so that the robot has "human" characteristics, forming a closed loop from data collection to data value refining and application.
Mr. Wang said that 3D machine vision, which is developed based on traditional machine vision technology, has experienced a thick accumulation in China and is now ushering in an explosive moment. However, in the past, most companies in the machine vision industry chain started from 3D camera hardware integration, machine vision algorithm optimization and other low-dimensional entry, without changing the situation of domestic 3D vision chips "lack of core and soul", and have been facing and suffering from the DLP chip module of Texas Instruments and GPU chip module of Nvidia. Foreign chip supply cycle is long, the supply chain is not controllable and other problems, the chip "neck" problem is difficult to solve.
As the only high-tech company with independent research and development of "MEMS chip + SOC chip + core algorithm" in China, CCSF positions itself as an enterprise that can provide complete AI+3D chip and module products to serve and empower the downstream robotics industry, which can be widely used in robotics, medical and other fields.
Mr. Wang said, compared with similar domestic companies, the advantage of Centric Fusion is reflected in the focus of machine vision industry on the one hand; on the other hand, it is reflected in having rich experience in products and cases. As for the overall team, the company has MEMS precision optics, 3D algorithm and SoC design team, which is an established, cross-discipline and international team, and the team leaders have many years of work experience, including returnee chip technology experts from the United States and Singapore, foreign executives and entrepreneurs.
Its core 3D smart camera modules and module products can be widely used in many application scenarios that require 3D modeling and spatial recognition, such as biometrics, machine vision, medical imaging, smart home, autonomous driving, game film and television, AR/VR design, etc.
High precision MEMS laser projection module
The underlying code of the algorithm and hardware arithmetic of the Centronics Fusion SoC chip are independently developed and integrate several computational acceleration engines, which can close the loop processing of data in real time and better ensure the accuracy of optical imaging. As an arithmetic chip, it supports a variety of general-purpose peripherals, including cameras, Gigabit Ethernet, USB2.0/3.0, etc., and can be used as an embedded system development. From the business point of view, this can provide customers with more convenient services at low cost.
3D+AI VDPU intelligent vision data processing chip
Mr. Wang said that Centric Fusion MEMS micro-mirror chip optical machine belongs to the second generation of new technology, which is equivalent to one-tenth of the power consumption and volume of DLP, which is 100% monopolized by the first generation technology, Texas Instruments. And its core device VDPU intelligent processing SoC chip can achieve the price down to 1/10, power consumption down to 1/30 times, volume down to 1/10. more worth mentioning is that in the context of the Sino-US technology war, the purely domestic solution of 3D vision is crucial to the security of China's industrial chain.
The product line of Centronics Fusion will be more abundant this year, with the addition of the highest precision PIXEL series of industrial chip modules, the lightweight MINI series for collaborative robots, the WR series for large format, large depth of field and other multi-logistics scenarios, plus the original PRO series, the main series to achieve domestic substitution, these four product lines cover all application scenarios in the market.
Centronics 3D machine vision accelerates the empowerment of thousands of industries
In Mr. Wang's view, the high precision, low cost, high safety and full scene coverage of Centronics' products are very conducive to the rapid scale start-up in the huge domestic market. At present, many famous domestic and foreign auto OEMs, auto parts manufacturers and logistics head enterprises have become customers of Centric Fusion. Mr. Wang said that starting from the realization of mass production in 2020, the annual sales of Centron Fusion show multi-fold growth, and the sales this year are expected to be more than twice of last year. The high expansion of sales shows the high recognition of the market for Centronics Fusion products. In terms of production capacity, Centronics Fusion is expected to add a production line of more than 10,000 units this year.
Based on the continuous breakthrough in core technology and good performance in market application, Centronics Fusion has also gained the favor of the capital market. in October 2022, Centronics Fusion received a new round of tens of millions of financing, which will be mainly used for chip R&D and mass production of 3D sensing module products. Mr. Wang revealed that Centric Fusion is expected to receive a new round of billion-dollar financing in 2023.
What are the other application scenarios of 3D machine vision in the future? Mr. Wang said that at this stage, 3D machine vision technology solves the problem of manipulation of 3D scenes, while there is still great market imagination in space perception and obstacle avoidance. At present, in the domestic LiDAR market, there is one out of every three using the same technical route as the 3D vision chip of CCSF, and most of the LiDAR on the market still comes from abroad, so there is still a lot of room for 3D machine vision technology to replace, for example, it can be applied to passenger cars, sweeping robots, park cleaning car and other scenes. In addition, in the future, 3D machine vision technology can also be used in MR glasses, which will bring great convenience to people's work and life.
Looking into the future development of Centronics Fusion, Mr. Wang said that Centronics Fusion will base on advanced optical chip technology and accelerate the process of replacing the localization of industrial vision chips and other "hard technologies". At the same time, Centric Fusion will continue to expand its territory in various application fields and create more value for the society.