Exploring a better life for humanity - the development of robots is accelerating again!

They are distributed on industrial assembly lines, making production and manufacturing efficient and orderly; They are ubiquitous in various life scenarios, making smart living within reach. When humans endow robots with intelligence, robots will give back endless possibilities to humans. Recently, the 2024 World Robot Conference was held in Beijing, focusing on technological innovation and application effectiveness. More than 600 innovative products from 169 companies participated in the exhibition, including over 60 new products and 27 humanoid robots, showcasing the latest technologies and achievements in the field of robotics.
Here, various robots compete on the same stage - turning wild imagination into reality, injecting technology products into more application scenarios. It can be foreseen that robots will create more beauty for humanity.

Photo by quadruped robot Li Chunjian/Bright Image
Humanoid robot - born and accompanied by humans
The robot "Tiangong 1.2 MAX" is very eye-catching - it is 173 centimeters tall, weighs 60 kilograms, is silver gray all over, and has strong limbs. This embodied intelligent robot, developed by the Beijing Embodied Intelligent Robot Innovation Center, can steadily hold the conference emblem with both hands and walk onto the stage, accurately placing it on the starting stage.
Humanoid robots are a major highlight of this conference. During the conference, Qiao Hong, president of the World Robot Cooperation Organization and academician of the CAS Member, released the report "Ten Trends of Humanoid Robots". We have made a forward-looking layout for the future of humanoid robots from ten directions: specialized components and materials for humanoid robots, artificial intelligence enabled humanoid robot design, humanoid robot motion intelligence, multi-modal large models for humanoid robots, large-scale datasets for humanoid robots, embodied intelligence for humanoid robots, humanoid robots inspired by human structure and neural mechanisms, open-source community for humanoid robots, humanoid robot factories, and ethical and safety considerations for humanoid robots.
Experts say that as an important carrier of general artificial intelligence, humanoid robots have great market space and development opportunities in the future. The reporter observed that the number of humanoid robots exhibited this time is also more than before, and the types are more diverse.
At a robot booth, the bionic humanoid robot "Su Shi" is dressed in ancient costume robes and reciting poetry loudly. Visitors can communicate with it through a microphone, and the "Su Shi" who is speaking can also make movements with his hands, which is very similar to humans.

Photo by bipedal robot Li Chunjian/Bright Image
In addition to interacting with humanoid robots through language, not far away, some visitors are controlling another robot through facial expressions. This interactive robot is called Hobbs and has a biomimetic face. "NOETIX Chairman Jiang Zheyuan walked up to the front of the robot and demonstrated for the reporter. At this moment, the Hobbs robot quickly captured Jiang Zheyuan's facial expression and began to imitate it, even the subtle twitching of his eyebrows was lifelike. In addition to being able to understand what the user is saying, we also hope that it can mimic human expressions, providing users with a better communication experience. To this end, we have focused on enhancing the facial freedom of this robot
It can be foreseen that "Su Shi" and Hobbs will be able to enter cultural and tourism venues such as science museums and museums in the future, serving as guides and guides to meet with the public.
Robots can also intelligently sort goods within supermarkets. In front of me, Galbot, a humanoid robot with a foldable waist and a wheeled chassis, caught the attention of reporters as it loaded and picked up snacks, medicines, and other items on shelves.
Despite being a humanoid robot, it doesn't have legs? The bottom wheel of Galbot is its' leg '. Through research and experimentation, we have found that traditional leg designs face many challenges when robots bend down to pick up or grab things, "the staff explained." The wheel design can be quickly applied to various scenarios, allowing the robot to achieve 360 degree rotation and all-round movement, more efficiently meeting the needs of supermarkets, industries, households, and other scenes. "At the same time, the folding waist design can also help the robot stretch freely, not only bending down to pick up things on the ground, but also extending upwards to a height of 2.4 meters.

Photo by humanoid robot Li Chunjian/Bright Image
Galbot targets unmanned scenes. For example, a certain store originally required more manpower to complete tasks such as picking up, restocking, inventory, and storage. If these skills are given to robots, only a small amount of their cooperation is needed to complete a large amount of repetitive labor, and the normal operation of the store requires less manpower.
According to experts, ability training is the most difficult step in the development of humanoid robots. Currently, Galbot has a success rate of 95% in grasping transparent reflective objects placed arbitrarily, but this is not the limit of its ability and still requires continuous iteration. In the ability training of humanoid robots, real-world data is relatively scarce. We hope to quickly apply the robots to real-world scenarios to collect data. What we need to do is to make Galbot's grasping success rate infinitely close to 100%, "said the staff.
Special robots - the "vanguard" of special operations
The pearl at the top of the manufacturing industry's crown "is humanity's praise for robots. As an important field for the deep integration of artificial intelligence technology and the real economy, the global robotics industry is currently highly innovative and active. The new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is deepening, and the integration of robots and emerging technologies is constantly deepening, with significantly improved configuration efficiency and expanding application boundaries. It is integrating into people's lives with unprecedented breadth and depth, accelerating the entry of human society into the intelligent era.
In fact, robots are not only widely used in the industrial and service industries, but also in special industries where robots have become good helpers for humans. When a dangerous situation occurs, emergency and other special robots can enter the fire scene or accident site to assist rescue personnel in completing rescue tasks.

Medical Robot Li Chunjian Photo/Bright Image
In front of the exhibition booth at the Automation Research Institute of China Ordnance Equipment Group, emergency firefighting robots, patrol quadruped robots, and other equipment are neatly arranged, which is very eye-catching. Named 'robot', emergency firefighting robots are more like scaled down 'fire trucks' or' police cars'. In emergency situations, if firefighters do not have enough supplies to carry themselves, emergency firefighting robots can assist in carrying supplies, "said Ming Yangyang, the head of patrol products at the Automation Research Institute of China Ordnance Equipment Group." Sometimes, firefighters need to climb many floors, which consumes a lot of physical energy. With this type of robot, the burden on firefighters will be greatly reduced
Patrol quadruped robots can provide support to areas with insufficient police force to a certain extent. When the police complete the patrol task handover, or when there are too many police situations and personnel cannot arrive at the scene in time, they can dispatch this kind of robot to arrive at the scene first, "Ming Yangyang said.
Unlike emergency firefighting robots, patrol robots are not used to transport supplies, but are equipped with network connected detection devices, loudspeakers, tear gas and mesh guns used in critical situations to ensure the safety of on-site personnel.
Research has found that the demand for emergency robots varies in different scenarios. For example, in earthquake rescue scenarios, robots may need to be equipped with life detection devices. When rescue personnel have difficulty moving, robots can assist in going to special areas to detect vital signs.
In addition, the conference also showcased track inspection robots, bipedal robots, and surgical robots used for underground operations. Among them, the track inspection robot can penetrate key underground areas such as substations and winch rooms, almost replacing inspection workers, and is equipped with infrared thermal imagers, cameras, and sensors to collect images and detect gases.
With its powerful leg movement ability, bipedal robots can move in complex terrains and meet the demand of "going deep into the mountains". The operation of surgical robots is extremely precise and surprising. For example, robots that can assist in performing bone cutting surgeries can convert preoperative detection results into 3D models, develop surgical plans, quickly and accurately locate the operating position during surgery, and help doctors save operating time.
Currently, China's special robots play an important role in fields such as air and sea exploration, emergency rescue, etc. According to data, as of July 2024, China holds over 190000 valid patents related to robots, accounting for approximately two-thirds of the global total. The average annual growth rate of operating revenue in the robotics industry is about 15%. China has been the world's largest industrial robot market for 11 consecutive years, with over half of the world's new installed capacity in the past three years.
Robot Competition - Let Children See the Future
During this conference, the 2024 World Robot Competition Beijing Championship will also be held at the same time, including the Inclusive Robot Challenge, Brain Controlled Robot Competition, Space Robot Competition, and Youth Robot Design Competition. Youth teams from all over the country compete on the same stage, staging a fun and entertaining "robot showdown".
At the "MakeX Challenge" competition, just after one round of competition, high school student Xu Shuming and his teammates from Zhenjiang, Jiangsu sat on the ground to review their performance from the previous round.
We tried our best, but our cooperation was not yet seamless, and many details needed to be polished. "Although we lost the game, Xu Shuming and his teammates did not give up." After seeing other excellent works and smooth operating techniques, we also learned a lot. In the next competition, we will definitely be able to make better robots
The 'MakeX Challenge' is an important competitive event of this competition. Four teams form pairs and control their own robots to pick up pancake shaped "bullets" on the field and hit designated targets. The scene of the battle was intense, with a bustling crowd, and the audience outside were also firmly caught in the eye, occasionally bursting into cheers.
The competition also added rules for pairing up with unfamiliar teams, adding more uncertainty. As veterans who have participated in multiple competitions, Chen Jinxuan and Tang Ziye, middle school students from Shenzhen, are still a bit nervous. We are not familiar with the level of 'allies', and there may be some unexpected incidents during the competition, such as collisions between robots or' bullets' hitting robots. "Chen Jinxuan is somewhat concerned about the situation on the field.
Through learning, children need to build robots themselves and complete a series of tasks such as debugging, testing, programming, and practical exercises. As a coach, although I cannot provide technical guidance during the competition, I need to summarize in a timely manner after the competition to help them adjust their mood and state. Coach He, who has led the team to participate in the World Robot Competition multiple times, said that the biggest feeling is that the level of the participating teams is getting stronger and stronger. "This is a competition that we attach great importance to. Over the years, coaches and participating teams from all over the world have been looking forward to competing with strong teams in this high-level competition.
In the view of Chief Judge Wang Yue, the introduction of youth activities in the conference has built a "platform for children to see the future" - "They have seen the level of strong teams in various regions, the high-precision and cutting-edge products of major scientific and technological innovation enterprises, and the development direction of future robots. Perhaps they can plant a small seed in their hearts and become participants and builders of the future