How One Startup Built a (Mostly) China-Free Robot

一家初创公司如何打造出（基本）不含中国零件的机器人

Last week, US regulators banned a wide variety of Chinese-made robots from being imported to the United States because of concerns about national security. Saurabh Chandra was ready to seize the moment. His company, Ati Robotics, assembles its robots in India, and Chandra believes they use fewer Chinese parts than almost any other robotics company in the US.

上周，美国监管机构出于国家安全考虑，禁止进口多种中国制造的机器人。Saurabh Chandra 准备抓住这个时机。他的公司 Ati Robotics 在印度组装机器人，Chandra 认为，与美国几乎任何其他机器人公司相比，他们使用的中国零件都更少。

Investment in robotics startups hit record highs this year, both in the number of deals and dollars invested, according to PitchBook, which tracks venture capital flows. But many of those companies primarily develop software, and they largely still rely on Chinese suppliers for their hardware.

根据追踪风险投资流向的 PitchBook 数据显示，今年机器人初创公司的投资额在交易数量和投资金额上均创下历史新高。但其中许多公司主要开发软件，而在硬件方面，它们在很大程度上仍然依赖中国供应商。

The Federal Communications Commission’s decision to ban new models of human-like robots, known as humanoids, and other advanced devices from China could hamper the growth of many smaller robotics firms in the US. But some businesses could benefit, including Ati.

美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）决定禁止进口来自中国的新型人形机器人及其他先进设备，这可能会阻碍美国许多小型机器人公司的发展。但包括 Ati 在内的一些企业可能会从中受益。

The startup was founded in 2017 to develop motors for self-driving cars. Years later, it zeroed in on making its own robots, including tuggers and pallet movers that cart tons of materials throughout big facilities. Ati developed its own hardware, believing that it would lead to better functionality, a bet that Chandra says many of his advisers cautioned against but one that wound up naturally limiting reliance on China.

这家初创公司成立于 2017 年，最初致力于开发自动驾驶汽车电机。几年后，它专注于制造自己的机器人，包括在大型设施中搬运数吨物料的牵引车和托盘搬运车。Ati 自主开发了硬件，认为这将带来更好的功能。Chandra 表示，许多顾问曾告诫他不要这样做，但这一赌注最终自然地限制了对中国的依赖。

It has begun to pay off. Ati has several hundred robots currently in operation at warehouses and factories and more than 50 customers in total, Chandra says. Ati’s first humanoid, which moves heavy bins around, will go into service later this year.

这已经开始获得回报。Chandra 说，Ati 目前有数百台机器人在仓库和工厂中运行，总共有超过 50 家客户。Ati 的第一款人形机器人（用于搬运重型箱子）将于今年晚些时候投入使用。

Chandra spoke with WIRED last week about how Ati Robotics steered clear of China, while building robots he argues can still compete with the industry’s best on price and performance. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Chandra 上周接受了《连线》（WIRED）杂志的采访，谈到了 Ati Robotics 如何避开中国供应链，同时制造出他认为在价格和性能上仍能与行业顶尖产品竞争的机器人。为清晰起见，本文对采访内容进行了编辑和删减。

WIRED: Developing hardware is expensive. How were you able to financially sustain doing that?

《连线》：开发硬件成本高昂。你们是如何在财务上维持这一过程的？

Saurabh Chandra: R&D is in Bangalore, which helps with our labor costs. Bangalore was undergoing this electric vehicle revolution in the two-wheeler, three-wheeler category in India. And it turns out that the kind of vehicles we were making for the robotics industry happened to have a similar power profile and characteristic as the two-wheeler and three-wheelers being made in the EV industry.

Saurabh Chandra： 研发中心设在班加罗尔，这有助于降低劳动力成本。当时班加罗尔正经历印度两轮和三轮电动汽车的革命。事实证明，我们为机器人行业制造的车辆，其功率分布和特性恰好与电动汽车行业制造的两轮和三轮车相似。

We tried to leverage the components and supply chain being developed for those vehicles. Typically, automotive parts are very reliable and are produced in large volumes, hence they are very good and cost-efficient. Though we had to do engineering with some of those vendors to make the parts work in a robot. But once we did, we had a great win.

我们尝试利用为这些车辆开发的组件和供应链。通常，汽车零部件非常可靠且产量巨大，因此它们质量很好且具有成本效益。虽然我们必须与其中一些供应商进行工程合作，使这些零件能在机器人上运行，但一旦成功，我们就取得了巨大的胜利。

One of your robot models is China-free, right, but not the others?

你们的一款机器人型号是不含中国零件的，对吧？但其他型号不是？

They have different levels of what I might call “supply chain resiliency.” Two of our best-selling models—our 10,000-pound tugger and the pallet mover—use very few parts from China. They’re tugging trolleys—you may be taking raw material from stores to the factory line or from one process point to another.

它们有着不同程度的、我称之为“供应链韧性”。我们最畅销的两款型号——10,000 磅牵引车和托盘搬运车——使用的中国零件非常少。它们主要用于牵引手推车，比如将原材料从仓库运送到生产线，或从一个工艺点运送到另一个工艺点。

But even with the humanoid that we have, the full arm is done here in Bangalore. The actuator is also done here, but we do get the harmonic drive from China, for example, and the frameless motor, at least for now.

但即使是我们的人形机器人，整个手臂也是在班加罗尔制造的。执行器也是在这里制造的，但例如谐波减速器和无框电机，至少目前我们还是从中国采购的。

The battery cells come from China. But we could, for example, get the cells from South Korea or Japan tomorrow. So those are passive components. There are some components that do come from China when we go deeper. We use induction motors, so even the magnet in the motor is not coming from China. That’s a very different choice from many of the people who are doing robots.

电池电芯来自中国。但例如，我们明天就可以从韩国或日本采购电芯。所以这些属于被动组件。当我们深入挖掘时，确实有一些组件来自中国。我们使用感应电机，所以电机里的磁铁也不是来自中国的。这与许多机器人制造者的选择截然不同。

Which of your robots uses the fewest parts from China?

你们哪款机器人使用的中国零件最少？

The 10,000-pound tugger. It’s really China-free actually. And even the pallet mover has maybe less than 5 percent Chinese parts.

10,000 磅的牵引车。它实际上确实是不含中国零件的。即使是托盘搬运车，中国零件的占比可能也低于 5%。

Which part of the tugger do you still need from China?

牵引车还有哪些部分需要从中国采购？

Just the cells in the battery. In the pallet mover, we use one very good solid-state lidar sensor, which we don’t have an option from outside China. But in the tugger, we use Ouster, which is a US-based lidar sensor.

只有电池里的电芯。在托盘搬运车中，我们使用了一款非常好的固态激光雷达传感器，目前在中国以外还没有替代选择。但在牵引车上，我们使用的是美国公司 Ouster 的激光雷达传感器。

Did you have to make some trade-offs?

你们是否必须做出一些权衡？

Yeah, we used induction motors, which are slightly less efficient than, say, Chinese-made brushless motors, which have magnets in them. But you can trade off a bit of efficiency for a bit more battery.

是的，我们使用了感应电机，它的效率比含有磁铁的中国制无刷电机稍低一些。但你可以用一点效率的损失来换取更多的电池容量。

How do you market your robots? Is your supply chain part of the appeal?

你们如何营销机器人？供应链是卖点的一部分吗？

That’s not been a big part of our marketing, to be honest, but we do let customers know. We have not seen this being a very explicit part of their buying criteria. But many customers have definitely told us that it influences their decisions.

老实说，这并不是我们营销的重点，但我们确实会让客户知道。我们还没有看到这成为他们购买标准中非常明确的一部分。但许多客户确实告诉我们，这会影响他们的决策。

How do you plan to make your new humanoid robot less reliant on parts from China?

你们计划如何让新的人形机器人减少对中国零件的依赖？

It’s very early. We don’t try to optimize the supply chain from the get-go. The gears come from China right now, but those gears are also manufactured in Germany, Taiwan, and Japan. So they’ll be a little more expensive than the ones we get from China, but alternatives are available.

现在还处于早期阶段。我们不会从一开始就试图优化供应链。齿轮目前来自中国，但这些齿轮在德国、台湾和日本也有制造。所以它们会比我们从中国采购的贵一点，但替代方案是有的。

With this new ban in place, do you think it’s going to be easy for US companies to find alternative suppliers?

随着这项新禁令的实施，你认为美国公司能轻易找到替代供应商吗？

The regulation is not saying that you cannot use any part from China. But quite a few people will be impacted in my opinion. Absolutely. Most of these robots have been invented in the US. It’s a bit of a tragedy that we are not making them in the US. Maybe more people will be encouraged to make them locally, which is not a bad thing.

这项法规并没有说你不能使用任何中国零件。但在我看来，会有相当多的人受到影响。绝对会。这些机器人大多是在美国发明的。我们没有在美国制造它们，这有点悲剧。也许会有更多人受到鼓励在本地制造，这并不是一件坏事。

Where is your humanoid ultimately assembled?

你们的人形机器人最终在哪里组装？

Currently, we manufacture all of these robots in Bangalore, but we are setting up a facility in Madison Heights near Detroit, Michigan, where we will eventually assemble them in the future.

目前，我们所有的机器人都在班加罗尔制造，但我们正在密歇根州底特律附近的麦迪逊高地建立一个工厂，未来我们最终会在那里进行组装。

How are people in the robotics industry reacting to the new ban?

机器人行业的人对这项新禁令有何反应？

Everyone’s in denial. Absolutely. It’ll get real. A couple of months ago, I had met people at a conference, and they were actively trying to lobby in Washington, DC, to prevent something like this from happening, but I don’t think they succeeded.

每个人都在否认。绝对是这样。现实终将到来。几个月前，我在一次会议上遇到了一些人，他们当时正在华盛顿特区积极游说，试图阻止此类事情发生，但我认为他们没有成功。