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Today (August 17), the 26th China Robot and Artificial Intelligence Competition Humanoid Robot Innovation Challenge opened in Suzhou, Jiangsu. Teams from more than 30 universities across the country competed on the same stage to showcase cutting-edge technologies and innovative applications in the fields of humanoid robots and artificial intelligence.

This competition has two categories: virtual simulation competition and physical competition, and aims to solve the technical problems faced by humanoid robots in future service and production scenarios. On site, the robot not only needs to set up rotating valves, but also complete five scene tasks such as passing gravel roads, pressing buttons, opening doors, and indoor task planning. All of these require robots to make autonomous judgments about the environment and take countermeasures. In the humanoid standard platform virtual simulation competition, contestants design algorithms such as computer vision and motion control to enable robots to have movement and perception capabilities. As competitions focusing on current technological hotspots, these events provide contestants with a platform to showcase their achievements and exchange technologies, and also examine contestants' capabilities in algorithm development, path planning and navigation, motion control, and other aspects.

Sun Lining, Chairman of the Expert Committee of the China Robot and Artificial Intelligence Competition: This is also the first humanoid robot competition on the national white list. Through its promotion, various universities and schools can offer courses, directions and experiments on humanoid robots. It will bring in a group of innovative talents and provide innovative talents for the research and development of high-end robots in my country.

As one of the most influential and comprehensive robotics competitions in China, this competition is the first to cross from simulated scenarios to real home service scenarios, truly reproducing the technical difficulties in scenarios such as smart homes, smart health care, and special services, promoting the application of humanoid robot technology in engineering and industrialization, and accelerating the realization of humanoid robots from laboratories to real life.

Liu Yufei, technical director of the National and Local Co-construction Humanoid Robot Innovation Center: Compared with industrial robots, humanoid robots emphasize a strong benchmarking system. Some technologies are driven entirely by human data or human collection, especially in the fields of industry, services, and health care. Many scenes are designed for people, so humanoid robots are more suitable for large-scale applications in such scenes. The combination of artificial intelligence large models and humanoid robots will become an important trend in future development.

Pre-match visit to experience different application scenarios of humanoid robots

Before the start of this national humanoid robot competition, CCTV reporters visited the venue in advance and experienced the application of humanoid robots in different scenarios up close.

CCTV reporter Gu Junling: On the field, I saw many contestants seizing the last minute to debug intensively. The entire factory where I am located is the size of a room in a simulated ordinary residence, with a table and a sofa. I am now giving a command to a household robot: Hello, I am thirsty.

Although the command just now did not mention water, after the analysis of the artificial intelligence model, it determined that I needed to drink water, so it took a bottle of mineral water from the table for me. The staff told me that it has a total of 38 motors in its body, 6 motors in its hands alone, and 10 joints, which is very close to a real person's hand.

For a bipedal humanoid robot, its movement process must adapt to different application scenarios, especially the road surface, which has different hardness and undulations, such as farmland and grassland. Especially on gravel roads, when it steps on them, the gravel will squeeze to both sides, and sometimes it will slip. Don't underestimate this small step, but the robot has to perform one or two thousand calculations per second, and use the data from these calculations to drive dozens of motor joints on the body for dynamic balance. At the same time, it must ensure smooth progress.

In addition to home applications, humanoid robots can also be used in industrial production and even in high-risk rescue and disaster relief scenarios. There is a humanoid robot in the testing phase. It has a laser radar on its head to sense and locate its surrounding environment. Its task is to simulate closing a valve in case of fire or high-risk chemical leakage.

There is also a robot pushing a door. Since it involves moving from one room to another and completing a space transition, the robot's spatial sense is required to be higher. There are also hand movements, which require one hand to press down the door handle and then use the other hand to push the door open. Since a reaction force will be generated during the pushing process, the robot must also maintain its balance. The simulation of bipedal robots in real scenes has taken another step towards its popularization and integration into people's lives.

Humanoid robots become a new engine for technological competition and economic development

According to the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Robot Industry", my country's robot industry will focus on core technology breakthroughs and industrial ecosystem construction to promote the industry to move towards the middle and high end. Humanoid robots that integrate advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, high-end manufacturing, and new materials are gradually moving from laboratories to production lines, becoming a new engine for scientific and technological competition and economic development.

Humanoid robots have a wide range of application scenarios. In industrial scenarios, humanoid robots are suitable for collaborating with or replacing humans in dangerous working environments such as flammable and explosive environments. In the production process, humanoid robots can be used in scenarios such as mine operations, power inspections, security border inspections, etc., freeing humans from monotonous and dangerous work. In the field of domestic services, humanoid robots can chat with the elderly, play with children, do housework, and take care of patients.

Sun Lining, Chairman of the Expert Committee of the China Robot and Artificial Intelligence Competition: Humanoid robots are a typical type of robot. On the one hand, they look like humans, on the other hand, they are intelligent like humans, and on the other hand, they function like humans. Now that robots have entered families and are living with humans, we hope that they will be closer to humans and easier to integrate with humans. Therefore, we need to improve the humanoid aspect so that they can be more easily integrated with humans. In addition, with the development of large-scale model technology and AI technology, we hope that robots will also be as intelligent as humans.

Data from relevant research institutions show that the humanoid robot industry will enter a period of explosive growth in 2023. It is expected that by 2026, the scale of China's humanoid robot industry will exceed 20 billion yuan. In the future, functional complete machines will gradually occupy the mainstream and have huge development potential. It is estimated that the scale of my country's humanoid robot market will reach 75 billion yuan in 2029 and will rapidly grow to about 300 billion yuan by 2035. At present, many places are planning the development of the humanoid robot industry. It is expected that by 2025, my country will initially establish a humanoid robot innovation system capable of large-scale production.

Liu Yufei, technical director of the National and Local Co-construction Humanoid Robot Innovation Center: According to preliminary statistics in 2024, there are already hundreds of humanoid robot start-up companies, scientific research institutions, and companies that provide core components. Therefore, humanoid robots have achieved a good development trend in the fields of technology, intelligence, and core components.

Source: CCTV News Client