Rebirth 2004: I can make money by writing.

In mid-September, Hao Qiang convened a project meeting for the robot dog.

This project team consists of hundreds of R&D personnel, and the main research direction is determined by Hao Qiang.

The participants in this meeting were the core members of the project team.

Hao Qiang opened the PPT and introduced the information collected by the company: "Ladies and gentlemen, according to the information collected by our company, the earliest prototypes of robot dogs were mainly developed by academic institutions and laboratories.

Earlier this year, MIT's Robotics Lab unveiled the 'Puppy' quadruped robot prototype, marking the first steps in the development of robotic dog technology.

At that time, the Boston company did not have any robot products. It was not until 2015 that it released the famous "Spot" quadruped robot.

This robot dog can walk efficiently on complex terrain, even overcome steps and uneven ground, can leap up to 1 meter, and has the ability to climb on rugged terrain.

The success of Spot marks an important step in the transition of robot dog technology from prototype to commercial application.

Although Spot's hydraulic drive system ensures powerful power output, it also has some limitations. For example, the equipment has high maintenance costs and its service life is limited by the reliability of the hydraulic system.

In addition, the high price of $75000 makes it far beyond the affordability of ordinary consumers, and its applications are mainly concentrated in military, logistics and professional fields.

In the conference room, every member of the R&D team listened attentively to the chairman's speech, taking notes of key points on their laptops from time to time.

Although the company does not restrict employees from using personal laptops, there are strict restrictions on the use of these devices - they cannot connect to the Internet, design drawings are locked, and all core information is strictly protected. It is best to use company computers.

Hao Qiang continued, "Our company has entered the field of robotic dog research and development, and we are at the forefront of this industry.

Of course, we are not developing robot dogs simply for commercial interests or military purposes, but we hope to lay the foundation for the development of intelligent robots through the research and development of robot dogs.

After all, the development of intelligent robots doesn't happen overnight. Robot dogs are relatively basic application products. If we can solve the technical challenges of deep learning, computer vision, data collection, and environmental navigation for robot dogs, other types of intelligent robots will also be able to navigate in more dynamic and complex environments, avoid obstacles, and complete tasks such as opening doors, picking up objects, and even more complex actions.

The robot dog project was launched at the beginning of the year, but the preliminary work mainly involved setting up a project team, doing planning and demand definition, etc.

After all, everyone is still in the early stages of learning and exploration, and has not yet officially entered the product design and development stage.

Next, Hao Qiang described some of the difficulties the company encountered in developing robot dogs.

At present, the development of robot dogs is mainly restricted by hardware and software levels.

In terms of hardware, it mainly includes power system, battery life, sensors and navigation system.

In terms of power, Hao Qiang plans to use electric motor drive to solve the problem of the power system.

Early versions of Spot relied on a hydraulic drive system for power. While hydraulic systems offer powerful output and flexible movement, they also have significant drawbacks: high maintenance costs, relatively poor reliability, and susceptibility to leaks and damage. Furthermore, hydraulic drives have limited adaptability to temperature and environmental conditions.

In terms of battery life, Future Technology Group’s current super ternary lithium battery can already meet the basic applications of robot dogs.

If metal lithium batteries are successfully developed, battery life will not be a problem. Not to mention one or two hours of use on the battlefield, battery life of several days will not be a problem.

Future Technology Group has been conducting research in the field of sensors and navigation, and the company is at a world-class level in this field.

However, although current sensors perform well in many environments, their accuracy and reliability may be affected in some extreme environments or complex scenarios, such as strong light, low light, haze, dust, etc.

In addition, the ability to process this data and respond in a timely manner needs to be improved, especially in dynamic environments. The real-time and accuracy of the sensor system still needs to be improved. This is a technical problem that Future Technology Group urgently needs to solve.

Compared with hardware limitations, software is mainly limited by deep learning, artificial intelligence, computing power and data processing, multi-task coordination processing, complex environment processing and other issues. Ultimately, it is mainly limited by chips.

The company can already manufacture 7nm process chips, which is enough to design and manufacture special chips for robot dogs.

After explaining the project framework, Hao Qiang and the various groups of the project team determined the project tasks, responsible persons, time nodes and acceptance criteria, and the specific details were completed by the project team.

Every two weeks, Hao Qiang attends a regular meeting to check project progress and solve core problems.

After all, what he does is the early work of the project manager, that is, project planning and management, clarifying the overall direction and key tasks of the project.

At the same time, he is responsible for organizing research and mobilizing the team to solve technical obstacles that arise during the research and development process.

The company's employees admire the boss who understands technology very much. Unlike the leaders of some companies, who don't know anything and just talk nonsense, they are laymen who command professionals and dare not say anything to the leaders for fear of making the leaders unhappy and making things difficult for them, which makes the employees very uncomfortable.

Two days later,

Office of the Chairman.

Hao Qiang and Luo Hao, general manager of Future Automobile Company, sat face to face.

Every once in a while, the general manager of each subsidiary would report the subsidiary's operations to Hao Qiang.

"Chairman, our production capacity can't keep up with sales, and we're a month behind on orders. After the 8134 automotive chip was launched, even with the price increase, consumers remained enthusiastic. The best-selling car is still the 2012 ES6 with standard features.

I now hope that the third phase of the automobile factory can be put into operation as soon as possible." Luo Hao was delighted and took a sip of tea before reporting his work seriously.

The 2012 standard ES6 has a range increased from 520 kilometers to 550 kilometers, and the onboard chip is 8134. The cost of lithium batteries has decreased, but the cost of chips has increased. The terminal price is 46.8 yuan, only 1 yuan higher than the original price.

The 2012 high-end Future ET3 has a range of 980 kilometers and is priced at 49.8 yuan, but not many people buy it.

The battery life of future cars will be sufficient and not exaggerated. In addition, charging is convenient nowadays, so most consumers are unwilling to spend more money.

Then, Luo Hao continued to report on the automobile company’s revenue, with monthly revenue reaching 200 billion yuan!

"Boss Luo, you can work overtime at the Phase III car factory to get it started sooner.

However, employees cannot be forced to work overtime, and overtime pay must be given in accordance with national regulations.

We don't remind people to work overtime. If there are not enough people, we just hire more people. Don't think about reducing costs and increasing efficiency from above.

The company is not short of money, and we have a responsibility to help the government solve social employment problems. ”Hao Qiang reminded that although some words are often said, they still need to be repeatedly reminded to prevent subordinates from being misled.

"Okay, I understand." Luo Hao said respectfully.

"Well, I'm still worried that the money in the charity fund won't be spent. There's no need to save money for the company. Just spend it where it's needed." Hao Qiang smiled and took a sip of tea.

After Luo Hao finished his report, he tactfully left the chairman's office.

Watching Luo Hao leave, Hao Qiang stood up and stretched himself, then sat down by the French window, his eyes fixed on the chip factory, and murmured:

"I don't know what the situation is like for those chip colleagues."