Rebirth of the Wild Age

Guo Bing's life trajectory has clearly deviated.

In Guo Bing in another time and space, his father made a living by running a small business after he was released from prison. His father made a comeback based on his ability. At one time, his net worth exceeded 50 million yuan, but he almost went bankrupt because of the economic crisis in 2008.

At that time, Guo Bing was studying at Harbin Institute of Technology, and he started to earn tuition fees by himself since his sophomore year. Sometimes he even sent money home because his father was in prison and his mother had back disease, so he could not work long hours. After graduating with a master's degree, Guo Bing even went to take the civil service exam, but fortunately he was persuaded by his supervisor to go back to study for a Ph.D. After graduating with a Ph.D., he stayed in school, from teaching assistant to lecturer, all the way to professor, and never resigned to start a company.

Now, due to the changes brought by Song Weiyang, Xianjiu Group has developed well, and Guo Bing, the rich second generation, is also more chic. He did not work part-time to make money during college, but devoted himself to studying knowledge, and even flew to the capital to catch up with his classmate in high school. Now he even spent 100,000 yuan to start a business with his mentor.

What kind of project is your robot company working on? Song Weiyang asked.

Guo Bing said: Medical robots.

Song Weiyang frowned and said, Why don't you make industrial robots?

Guo Bing explained: As far as the current situation of the global industry is concerned, industrial robots are mainly used in the automobile manufacturing industry. The foreign market has long been occupied by industry giants, and in the domestic market, you should know what is happening in China's automobile manufacturing industry. Domestic Few automakers use robots, and even if they do, it’s a cosmetic project and they will prioritize purchasing foreign products.”

Do you smoke? Song Weiyang took out a pack of yellow pandas.

Guo Bing waved his hand and said, No smoking.

Song Weiyang put the cigarette in his mouth back into the box, and asked, Has your medical robot been successfully developed?

Guo Bing said: Successful, the function is equivalent to the first generation of 'Aesop' in the United States. It can imitate the function of the human arm, realize voice control settings, cancel the need for assistants to manually control the endoscope, and provide more accurate than human control. The lens moves to provide doctors with a more direct and stable field of view.

Very good. Song Weiyang said.

Guo Bing smiled wryly: After the samples were ready, my mentor and I traveled to major hospitals across the country to promote our products in person. The market reaction was very embarrassing. Although the surgeons unanimously praised it, no hospital was willing to spend money to buy it.

Song Weiyang asked: Why? Is it inferior to foreign products?

It is indeed not as good as the latest foreign products, but the fundamental reason is not this, Guo Bing said in detail, First, there is no shortage of experienced doctors in China, and there is no need for robot-assisted surgery, at least not our products; second, The price is too expensive, and most of the parts for making robots need to be imported from abroad, there is no supporting supplier in China, and the annual maintenance cost of robots is also very high.”

There is no other way. Song Weiyang said.

Guo Bing was speechless: Fortunately, what we made was only the first version of 'Aesop'. If we made 'Da Vinci', it would be even more difficult to sell. A pair of 'Da Vinci' pliers is worth 10,000 RMB. Three sets of pliers are used for the operation, and they must be replaced after 10 uses. Of course, Da Vinci performs cutting-edge surgeries, and medical expenses and surgical expenses cost hundreds of thousands. Not too expensive.

Song Weiyang smiled and said, Then what did you and your instructor think at the beginning? Didn't you expect this situation?

It was expected, Guo Bing said, but we feel that there will always be big hospitals willing to buy it. It only needs to sell one robot a year to make money back, and sell two robots a year to make a profit, because this This high-tech industry is subsidized by the state. As long as the market is cultivated and developed slowly, in two or three years, several units may be sold every year.

Song Weiyang said: I didn't expect that even one of them couldn't be sold?

Yes. Guo Bing said in frustration.

Song Weiyang suddenly thought of the famous DJI and asked, Do you know drones?

Airplane? Guo Bing asked.

Yes, unmanned aircraft. Song Weiyang said.

Guo Bing obviously understands the industry situation very well. He said: China had drones as early as the 1960s, which were used exclusively in the military field. In the 1980s, they began to be used for civilian purposes, such as weather detection, aerial surveying and mapping, and aerial prospecting. A few years ago, China Southern Airlines developed the 'Xiangniao' unmanned helicopter, whose functions also include forest fire detection and fishery patrol.

Song Weiyang urged: It's better for you to stop making medical robots and change to civilian drones.

Is there a market for this thing? Guo Bing asked.

How can someone do it if there is no market? Didn't you say that China Southern Airlines released one? Song Weiyang said.

Guo Bing said: Civilian drones are not cutting-edge technology, and many scientific research institutions can make them. But the cost is too high, and the scope of use is narrow, and professional operators must be trained. And units that need it will directly report to them. How can a big company like China Southern Airlines order products from a small company?

Song Weiyang originally wanted to say that it could be used for aerial photography, but considering the current digital camera technology, he was too lazy to mention it. Movies and TV are mostly made on film these days. Could it be possible to let a drone hang a large amount of film into the sky? As for the digital camera, it seems that the picture taken is not good, and the space for video storage is also very small.

Of course, Song Weiyang is not a professional, so he dare not draw conclusions easily. He took out his mobile phone, found out Jiang Wen's phone number and called: Old Jiang, Happy Chinese New Year!

Who are you? Jiang Wen asked confusedly.

Song Weiyang. Song Weiyang said.

Jiang Wen immediately changed her attitude and said with a smile, It's Boss Song, happy new year!

Song Weiyang asked: Are there any good digital cameras now? The ones that can be used to shoot movies and TV programs.

Yes, it is often used in foreign TV programs, Jiang Wen said in detail, but the picture effect is not very good, and it needs post-production software conversion, and the pixels of the conversion are much worse than film.

Song Weiyang asked: How big is this digital camera?

Jiang Wen recalled for a while: It's quite big, weighing dozens to hundreds of catties, I don't know too well.

Song Weiyang asked again: Is there any portable one?

Wait, let me ask for you. Jiang Wen immediately hung up the phone.

After more than 20 minutes, Jiang Wen called again: Nowadays the popular portable digital video camera is a DV machine, with hundreds of thousands of pixels, and it is only for ordinary people to shoot for fun. Of course, there are also some new directors from film schools, because there are no Money couldn’t attract investment, so I used a DV machine to make DV movies.”

Song Weiyang asked: Can it be used for aerial photography?

Jiang Wen said with a smile, Stop talking nonsense, with hundreds of thousands of pixels, it's not enough to take a close-up shot.

Is there any better portable digital camera equipment? Song Weiyang asked.

Jiang Wen said: I just asked about it for you, and there is indeed such a machine. Hitachi launched a dvd camera more than two years ago. The dv machine uses magnetic tapes, and the output of the dvd machine is directly in the dvd format. When the camera was first launched, it only had 1.1 million pixels, but now there seems to be a new model with 2 million pixels. In addition, it has a 12-fold zoom. If you want to take aerial photos, you can only shoot at low altitudes. If you go a little higher, the picture will be blurred.”

How long can the video content be stored? Song Weiyang continued to ask.

Jiang Wen said: This kind of machine directly uses DVD discs as storage, as long as the battery is sufficient, theoretically it can record and store two hours of content.

Thank you. Song Weiyang said.

No thanks, just a few casual questions for you, Jiang Wen hesitated, and finally said, Well... Boss Song, I want to ask you for a favor.

Speak. Song Weiyang said.

That... about tax evasion, you know? If you are related, can you help me talk about it? Jiang Wen said.

Song Weiyang realized who it was in an instant, and said with a smile: No problem, I can make a call, but I don't guarantee that it will be useful.

Jiang Wen said: This is enough, I will think of other ways.

Then I'll hang up first. Song Weiyang said.

Jiang Wen said: No matter what the result is, Boss Song, I owe you a favor in this matter. If you can use me in the future, just open your mouth and never say anything else!

Okay, goodbye. Song Weiyang said.

With 2 million pixels and 2 hours of storage time, this kind of digital camera is barely enough, although the aerial photography effect is sure to blur the eyes. Nowadays, the development of digital technology is advancing rapidly. When Guo Bing develops the drone, the shooting pixels will definitely continue to increase.

In fact, only eight months later, high-definition digital camera technology will come out. The so-called high-definition, from the perspective of ten years later, is still a bit of a sham.

Song Weiyang was using the speakerphone just now, and Guo Bing could hear the whole process clearly. Song Weiyang said: Have you ever thought about combining digital cameras with drones for aerial photography in professional fields?

Guo Bing shook his head and said, It's too expensive. The cost of using a drone is not much cheaper than renting a helicopter. If I were a TV director, I would definitely pay to rent a helicopter.

So expensive? Song Weiyang asked puzzled.

After some discussion between the two, Song Weiyang finally understood that the drone Guo Bing was talking about was not the drone he had imagined.

There are two types of civilian drones today. One is with wings, which you can understand as a miniature version of a civil aviation airliner; the other is a single-rotor aircraft without wings, which you can understand as a miniature version of a helicopter. And no matter how small it is, the volume is particularly large, and the manufacturing cost is also high.

In the civilian market, single-rotor UAVs have become more popular in recent years, mainly because it is more convenient to take off into the air, and there is no need to use a launcher or a runway.

Compared with the later popular multi-rotor drones, the advantage of this single-rotor drone is that it has a stronger load capacity and a longer battery life. Therefore, at a time when battery technology is constrained, single-rotor UAVs have become mainstream.

Of course, some people are studying drones with four propellers, but they can't fly for long and can't lift too much, which has become their fatal flaw.

Multi-rotor UAVs will be able to flourish in the future, thanks to the improvement of battery and motor technology. The single-rotor UAV was eliminated because it was extremely difficult to operate, ordinary people couldn’t play it at all, and the requirements for the ambient temperature were very high, and its manufacturing cost was several times higher!

Song Weiyang analyzed the pros and cons with Guo Bing, and said: I think multi-rotor drones will definitely be the mainstream in the future, with low price and cost, low operation difficulty, and low environmental requirements. We only need to wait for the development of battery technology and motor technology. .”

The problem is that it has no use value now. The ghost knows how many years it will take for battery technology to develop. Guo Bing said.

Song Weiyang said: We can make technical reserves first. The first step is to develop our multi-rotor drone technology; the second step is to design a control system that integrates the digital camera with the drone.

Guo Bing frowned and said, If you do this, it is possible that in the next few years, the company will only have investment but no output, and it will all rely on continuous investment in maintenance.

I have money. Song Weiyang smiled.

Let me discuss it with my supervisor first. Guo Bing scratched his head and said, My supervisor probably won't agree. He used to work on industrial robots in the research institute, and they were all projects funded by the state. Now that he resigns to start a business, he definitely wants to You made a lot of achievements, so you chose a medical robot. But you, a civilian drone... To be honest, he doesn't like it, it's too childish.

Song Weiyang said: Everyone has his own aspirations, I don't force it.

Guo Bing went back and made a phone call with his mentor, and it was as expected. Since Song Weiyang didn't want to spend money on making medical robots, this mentor stopped messing around and chose to go abroad directly. First, you can enter an American company for development; second, you can learn and communicate, and after you have mastered the industry conditions and cutting-edge technologies in the United States, you can return to China.

This is equivalent to plating a layer of gold, and it can indeed improve one's own capabilities. I don't know how many domestic institutions will rush to ask for it. If you are lucky, it is not impossible to return to China to host a major national project and be evaluated as an academician. This phenomenon is very common in the academic and technological circles. The latest chapter of Rebirth of the Wild Era is here: