Media Perspective | Unveiling the Edge Computing “Magic Tool,” APQ Leads New Pulse of Intelligent Manufacturing

From June 19 to 21, APQ made a remarkable appearance at the “2024 South China International Industry Fair” (at the South China Industry Fair, APQ empowered new quality productivity with “Industrial Intelligence Brain”). On-site, APQ’s South China Sales Director Pan Feng was interviewed by VICO Network. The following is the original interview:

Introduction

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is advancing like a tidal wave, spurring numerous new technologies, emerging industries, and innovative models, powerfully empowering the global economic system. Artificial intelligence, as the key technological driving force of this revolution, is accelerating the pace of new industrialization with its deep industry penetration and comprehensive enabling effects.

Among them, the influence of edge computing is increasingly prominent. Through localized data processing and intelligent analysis close to the data source, edge computing effectively reduces data transmission latency, strengthens data protection barriers, and speeds up service response times. This not only significantly improves user experience but also greatly expands the application boundaries of artificial intelligence, covering areas from intelligent manufacturing and smart cities to remote medical services and autonomous driving, truly embodying the vision of “intelligence everywhere.”

In this trend, many companies focusing on edge computing are gearing up for action. They are committed to technological innovation and application scenario expansion, striving to seize opportunities in the vast field of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and jointly shape a new future led by intelligent edge technology.

Among these companies is Suzhou APQ IoT Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “APQ”). On June 19, at the 2024 South China International Industry Fair, APQ showcased its E-Smart IPC flagship product, the AK series, along with a new product matrix, demonstrating its strength.

1APQ’s South China Sales Director Pan Feng shared during the interview: “Currently, APQ has three R&D bases in Suzhou, Chengdu, and Shenzhen, covering sales networks in East China, South China, West China, and North China, with over 36 contracted service channels. Our products have deeply penetrated key fields such as vision, robotics, motion control, and digitalization.”

2Creating a New Benchmark, Precisely Addressing Industry Pain PointsAPQ is headquartered in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. It is a service provider focusing on industrial AI edge computing, offering traditional industrial PCs, industrial all-in-one PCs, industrial monitors, industrial motherboards, industry controllers, and more IPC products. Additionally, it develops supporting software products like IPC Smartmate and IPC SmartManager, forming the industry-leading E-Smart IPC.

3Over the years, APQ has focused on the industrial edge, providing customers with classic hardware products such as the embedded industrial PC E series, backpack industrial all-in-one PCs, rack-mounted industrial PCs IPC series, industry controllers TAC series, and the newly popular AK series. To address industry pain points in data collection, anomaly sensing, diagnostic qualification management, and remote operation and maintenance information security, APQ has paired its hardware products with self-developed software like IPC Smartmate and IPC SmartManager, helping industrial sites achieve equipment self-operation and group control management, thus driving cost reduction and efficiency improvement for enterprises.

The magazine-style intelligent controller AK series, a flagship product launched by APQ in 2024, is based on the “IPC+AI” design concept, responding to the needs of industrial edge users with considerations from multiple dimensions such as design concept, performance flexibility, and application scenarios. It adopts a “1 host + 1 main magazine + 1 auxiliary magazine” configuration, which can be used as an independent host. With various expansion cards, it can meet different application function requirements, achieving thousands of combination modes suitable for vision, motion control, robotics, digitalization, and more fields.

4Notably, with comprehensive support from its long-time partner Intel, the AK series fully covers Intel’s three major platforms and Nvidia Jetson, from Atom, Core series to NX ORIN, AGX ORIN series, meeting diverse CPU computing power needs in different scenarios with high cost performance. Pan Feng stated, “As the flagship product of APQ’s E-Smart IPC, the magazine-style intelligent controller AK series is small in size, low in power consumption, but powerful in performance, making it a true ‘hexagon warrior’.”

5Forging Intelligent Core Power with Edge IntelligenceThis year, “accelerating the development of new quality productivity” was written into the government’s work report and listed as one of the ten major tasks for 2024.

Humanoid robots, as representatives of new quality productivity and pioneers of future industries, integrate advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, high-end manufacturing, and new materials, becoming a new high ground for technological competition and a new engine for economic development.

Pan Feng believes that as the intelligent core of humanoid robots, the essence of edge computing processors lies not only in seamlessly integrating multiple sensors such as multiple cameras and radars but also in possessing substantial real-time data processing and decision-making capabilities, AI learning, and high real-time inference abilities.

As one of APQ’s classic products in the field of industrial robots, the TAC series meets different computing power and environmental requirements. For example, the TAC-6000 series empowers mobile robots with high stability and high cost performance; the TAC-7000 series for low-speed robot controllers; and the TAC-3000 series, an AI edge computing device developed with the NVIDIA Jetson embedded GPU module.

6Not only these intelligent industry controllers, but APQ also demonstrates excellent strength in software. APQ has independently developed “IPC Smartmate” and “IPC SmartManager” based on IPC + toolchain. IPC Smartmate provides risk self-sensing and fault self-recovery capabilities, significantly improving the reliability and self-operation capabilities of single devices. IPC SmartManager, by offering centralized data storage, data analysis, and remote control capabilities, solves the difficulty of managing large equipment clusters, thereby improving work efficiency and reducing maintenance costs.

With the ingenious integration of software and hardware, APQ has become the intelligent “heart” in the field of humanoid robots, providing a stable and trustworthy foundation for the mechanical body.

Pan Feng stated, “After years of dedicated research and full investment by the R&D team, and continuous product development and market expansion, APQ has proposed the pioneering industry concept of ‘E-Smart IPC’ and has become one of the top 20 edge computing companies nationwide.”

7Synergy of Government, Industry, Academia, and ResearchIn May this year, the first phase of the Suzhou Xianggao Intelligent Manufacturing Workshop project officially started. The project covers an area of about 30 acres, with a total construction area of about 85,000 square meters, including three factory buildings and one supporting building. After completion, it will vigorously introduce related industrial projects such as intelligent manufacturing, intelligent vehicle networking, and advanced materials. In this fertile land nurturing future industrial intelligence, APQ has its own brand new headquarters base.

8Currently, APQ has provided customized solutions and services to over 100 industries and more than 3,000 customers, including world-class benchmark enterprises such as Bosch Rexroth, Schaeffler, Hikvision, BYD, and Fuyao Glass, with cumulative shipments exceeding 600,000 units.

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