Preface:

Historically, high-altitude operations have mainly relied on manual labor, with traditional methods including rope access workers, scaffolding, cradles, and aerial work platforms.

Regardless of the method used, operators need to work at heights, which is not only inefficient but also poses significant safety risks.

The number of high-altitude workers in other industries is equally large, and high-altitude operation safety accidents remain a serious challenge globally.

Author | Fang Wensan

The Necessity and Inevitability of the Development of High-Altitude Robots

High-altitude operations belong to a typical 4D (dangerous, difficult, dirty, dull) type of work.

Relying on manual labor for high-altitude operations in the past had drawbacks such as low efficiency, high costs, and significant safety risks.

Taking the construction industry as an example, fall accidents account for more than 54% of total construction safety accidents.

As embodied intelligence and humanoid robots attract attention, a niche segment is on the eve of an explosion.

Third-party survey data shows that the current application penetration rate of high-altitude robots in the domestic shipbuilding industry has reached 20%—a figure often regarded as a turning point for the industry to enter the stage of large-scale application.

According to the classification standards of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), mobile robots can be divided into four categories based on operating scenarios: land, sea, air, and space, namely, ground mobile robots, underwater robots, high-altitude robots, and drones.

As an important branch of mobile robots, high-altitude robots have a market space as broad as that of ground mobile robots, underwater robots, and drones.

These robots are mainly used to replace manual labor in various high-altitude operation tasks.

According to the national standard GB/T3608-2008 "Classification of Working at Heights": working at heights refers to operations carried out at a position 2 meters or higher above the fall height reference plane where there is a risk of falling.

Based on this standard, there are extensive high-altitude operation scenarios in industrial fields such as shipping, chemicals, and energy, as well as in large-scale infrastructure fields such as exterior walls, bridges and tunnels, and airports.

Market research and competitive intelligence firm Fact.MR's analysis shows that the global market size for products related to high-altitude operations reached USD 8.364 billion in 2023 and is expected to exceed USD 57.206 billion by 2033, with a compound annual growth rate of approximately 21.2% from 2023 to 2033.

Leading Enterprises in This Niche Segment Complete Latest Funding

US-based Gecko Robotics completed a USD 125 million Series D funding round in June this year, with a post-money valuation of USD 1.25 billion.

Domestic leading enterprise SHIHE Robotics has also successively completed the latest funding rounds totaling hundreds of millions of RMB, continuing to lead the development of the Chinese high-altitude robot field.

The successive large-scale funding rounds of these two leading enterprises in the high-altitude robot segment have attracted significant market attention to this vertical field with a potential scale of USD 100 billion.

Zhongwei Capital pointed out that high-altitude operation scenarios generally have pain points such as low efficiency, high costs, and high risks, making them rigid demand scenarios best suited for robot technology solutions.

Hillhouse Capital has publicly stated that high-altitude robots, combining AI and automation technology, demonstrate huge potential in the global infrastructure maintenance market.

Furthermore, national-level policy support and globalization opportunities are driving enterprises to actively expand overseas markets.

The strict requirements for safe production and environmental protection in overseas markets also provide broad international development space for Chinese enterprises.

Since 2023, domestic SHIHE Robotics and overseas companies such as Gecko Robotics, Skyline Robotics, and Aerones have successively completed funding rounds, with amounts ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of RMB.

The products of these companies are mainly used in scenarios such as high-rise building glass cleaning, ship rust removal, chemical storage tank corrosion prevention, drone high-altitude firefighting, and equipment structure inspection.

[Modular + Platformization] Opens a New Path for Intelligence

Founded in September 2015, SHIHE Robotics has a founding team from Tsinghua University and is the first domestic enterprise to realize the industrialization of high-altitude robots.

The company attaches great importance to technological innovation and has applied for and laid out over 400 patents around the core technology of high-altitude robots, successively being recognized as a national specialized, new, and high-tech [small giant] enterprise and a national intellectual property advantage enterprise.

Relying on the [modular + platformization] design concept, its high-altitude robots can achieve flexible combinations.

Through the adaptation mode of different chassis and operating equipment, it meets the needs of diverse scenarios, effectively breaking through the limitations of traditional engineering machinery and opening up a new path for intelligent development.

The scalability of technology heralds broad prospects. SHIHE's technical model of a universal chassis adapted to different equipment has helped the company successfully expand to leading customers in the shipping, chemicals, energy, and construction industries.

At the same time, SHIHE's related products have taken the lead in achieving mass shipments in the industry.

The core products, ship rust removal robots and chemical corrosion prevention robots, have a market share of over 70%, significantly ahead of domestic and foreign peers.

Magnetic adsorption and negative pressure adsorption mobile platforms constitute the core technical foundation of SHIHE Robotics, with the ability to stably attach to curved surfaces with a radius of 0.5 meters and a load-to-weight ratio of about 3:1, far exceeding the industry average.

In addition, the company's independently developed AI recognition technology significantly improves the accuracy of weld seam recognition and surface defect detection; its facade positioning and navigation technology enables the robot to achieve highly autonomous operations in regular operating areas.

To date, SHIHE Robotics has served top domestic clients such as COSCO, China State Shipbuilding Corporation, Sinopec, State Power Investment Corporation, and Datang Group.

In the process of internationalization, with product sales as the leading factor, the company has entered key markets such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America, achieving mass shipments of ship rust removal robots, with cumulative shipments and completions ranking first globally.

Through close cooperation with capital providers, SHIHE Robotics' business layout has been continuously deepened.

The latest investor, Zhejiang Energy Group, will provide strong support for the company's expansion in the energy industry in the future.

AI Platform + SaaS Subscription-Driven Soft Services

In overseas markets, Gecko Robotics is a leading enterprise in the field of high-altitude robots and is also the main benchmark for SHIHE Robotics.

Founded in 2013, this US-based company focuses on infrastructure inspection robots, serving industries such as defense, oil and gas, and power.

SHIHE Robotics mainly focuses on high-altitude operation scenarios in the shipping, chemicals, energy, and construction fields.

In contrast, Gecko Robotics takes high-altitude inspection robots as its core product, focusing on serving the high-altitude operation needs of the chemicals, energy, and national defense and military industries.

Compared to SHIHE Robotics, Gecko places more emphasis on a soft service system.

Leveraging autonomous inspection robot technology, combined with an AI platform and SaaS subscription model, the company upgrades traditional industrial inspection to data-driven predictive maintenance services, providing customers with long-term digital operation and maintenance solutions.

Gecko Robotics positions itself as a provider of infrastructure high-altitude inspection robot products and services, with approximately 70% to 80% of its revenue derived from inspection services.

With high-altitude inspection robots as its core product, its robot system equipped with AI software can assist customers in predicting the type, location, and timing of infrastructure failures, quickly covering high-altitude operation scenarios in core industries such as chemicals, energy, national defense, and military in the US.

Currently, Gecko integrates AI predictive capabilities to build a real data source for detection information in the physical world, extending its service areas to key industries such as national defense and military, oil and gas, power, steel, mining, and papermaking, with customers including the US Navy, Duke Energy, Royal Dutch Shell, and Chevron.

Conclusion:

High-altitude robots meet the automation needs of high-altitude fields, covering core infrastructure industries such as shipping, chemicals, energy, and construction, with vast application scenarios.

Compared to ground mobile robots, high-altitude operations place higher demands on robots' adsorption and mobility, load capacity, and intelligence level.

After years of development, the field has achieved technological breakthroughs in core aspects such as magnetic adsorption materials and joint motors. The mature technical foundation and vast market demand have made this field a focus of attention.

Some References:

Entrepreneur China: "Benchmarking the USD 1.25 billion unicorn, SHIHE Robotics continues to lead the Chinese high-altitude robot race"

36Kr: "High-Altitude Robots Usher in an Explosion: SHIHE Robotics Receives B+++++ Round of Funding, Gecko Receives Series D Funding"