Author | Yuan Silai
Editor | Su Jianxun
36氪 was informed that Benmo Technology, the research and development and production company of robot power modules, received Series A financing with an amount of nearly 100 million yuan. This round of financing was jointly led by Songhe Capital and Lenovo Ventures, followed by a well-known industry investor and Yifeng Capital, and old shareholders such as Wuyuan Capital and Qiji Chuangtan increased their capital. Beituo Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor for this round.
Since its establishment, Benmo Technology has successively obtained seed round investment from Mr. Li Zexiang, XbotPark Robot Base, Qiji Innovation Forum and Rice Venture Capital Angel round investment, and Wuyuan Capital Pre A round investment. At present, Benmo has more than 100 scientific and technological team members, of which more than half are R&D personnel.
Benmo Technology focuses on providing direct-drive power solutions without reducers, mainly serving customers in industries such as household robots and fitness equipment. Its solutions have the largest market share in many industries. Department manufacturers.
Robot power solutions are divided into direct drive type and non-direct drive type according to the drive form, and the main difference is whether a complex gearbox is used. The main function of this part is to reduce the motor speed and increase the torque, and the technology is relatively mature. The gears in the reduction box wear a lot, reducing the life of the equipment, and the complex structure cannot avoid problems such as high noise, poor battery life, and low efficiency.
The main products of Benmo Technology are series of motors M06 and M15, which can achieve low speed while ensuring torque density, and integrate the controller into the motor, which perfectly replaces the original “motor + reducer + servo system”.
M06 series motor
Taking the sweeping robot as an example, after using Benmo’s direct drive solution M06, it can achieve complete mute, meet the mute requirements of mid-to-high-end product lines, and improve the experience of voice control. Because the transmission reducer is removed, at least 60% of the installation space is saved, and a wider cleaning module can be installed. It is also because there is no energy loss due to mechanical friction, the endurance can be increased by 30%. More importantly, the bottleneck of traditional robot service life improvement is the reduction box. According to Zhang Di, CEO of Benmo Technology, using the direct drive solution can increase the service life of the device by more than 3 times.
In addition to cleaning robots, Benmo also provides modules for wheeled robot industries such as AGV, indoor and outdoor inspection, distribution and cleaning. For such customers, the direct drive solution that eliminates the loss of the transmission mechanism can reduce maintenance costs and improve power utilization efficiency.
In addition to supplying direct-drive modules, Benmo will launch the wheel-footed robot Diablo Xingtian in 2021. It is driven by direct-drive robot joints and can run in standing, prostrate, and half-squatting states, with a load of 5-10kg, and can smoothly cross 5cm Obstacles, when one foot crosses 10cm height, the body can still be kept stable. “Wheel-footed robots can ensure stability and flexibility, and at the same time move faster than footed robots, and can be applied to more abundant scenarios.” Zhang Di said. After the launch of Xingtian, Shangtang Technology, Zichuan Technology, MIT, etc. have all purchased.
Benmo Robot has 5 self-built production lines, and its core capabilities and processes are all self-developed and self-produced, with the ability to ship millions of motors annually. In terms of revenue, the sales of Benmo Robot has increased by more than 30% for one year in a row. This round of financing is mainly used for product research and development, and will strengthen market and production investment in the future.
Ms. Guo Tseng, managing director of Songhe Capital, the co-leader of this round, said: “Benmo not only has a long precipitation and technical advantages in direct drive motors, but with the increase in the penetration rate of direct drives, it will have a relatively large growth opportunity. The important thing is that we have been deeply involved in the field of wheel-footed robots for many years. The global first-mover technical advantages and mature product advantages fully combine the respective advantages of wheeled and footed robot chassis. It is believed that the robot application experience in some existing application scenarios will be significantly improved. , it is possible to open up a larger market space.”
Wang Guangxi, vice president of Lenovo Group, the co-lead investor and partner of Lenovo Venture Capital Group, said: “Lenovo Venture Capital regards robots as a very important part of the intelligent Internet of Things in all walks of life in the future, and it is also directly related to people and interfaces. A terminal that interacts at the physical level. The robot track has great market potential, such as the accelerated landing of traditional reducers and related technologies such as laser positioning, millimeter wave, and radar, unlocking more application scenarios for robots. At the same time, the industry is also exploring More efficient movement methods of robots, such as mechatronics. Benmo Technology’s direct-drive precise power solution brings lower operating background noise and higher body space utilization to robots. This pioneering optimization and upgrade, It plays a vital role in accelerating the entry of robots into various application scenarios. In the future, Lenovo Ventures will use the ecological advantages of CVC2.0 to provide comprehensive empowerment for this technology and work together to promote the long-term development of the robot track.”
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