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They can cook, sweep the floor, make pancakes, and serve coffee... At the 2024 World Robot Conference and Expo, robots that serve people's lives and are related to people's livelihood were highly sought after. When interviewing the audience, the reporter found that everyone was particularly excited about the domestic service robots that could bring convenience to daily life.

(Site of the 2024 World Robot Conference and Expo. Photo by Wan Yuhang, a reporter from China National Radio)

Last November, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Innovation and Development of Humanoid Robots" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guiding Opinions"). The "Guiding Opinions" proposed that by 2025, the humanoid robot innovation system will be initially established, and a number of key technologies such as "brain, cerebellum, and limbs" will achieve breakthroughs to ensure the safe and effective supply of core components. The whole machine product will reach the international advanced level and realize mass production, and be demonstrated in special, manufacturing, and people's livelihood services. Exploration and formation of effective governance mechanisms and means.

At this year's World Robot Conference, 27 newly unveiled humanoid robots made their debut, setting a record in all previous conferences.During the interview, the reporter deeply felt that these humanoid robots have gradually gotten rid of the labels of "vases" or "mascots" and have begun to "show their prowess" in multiple application scenarios.

At the scene, people can intuitively feel that "AI+" is bringing a smarter "brain" to humanoid robots. With the support of large models, humanoid robots can understand more instructions, handle more complex tasks, and identify and respond to environmental interference. In addition, the agile "cerebellum" and flexible "limbs" are also key factors that make general humanoid robots more human-like. The technological progress of humanoid robots in multiple dimensions has pressed the "accelerator" for robots to enter people's lives.

(Wanda, a full-size universal mobile humanoid robot for consumption from Uniqi Technology. Photo by Wan Yuhang, a reporter from China National Radio)

"Every day at 10 o'clock, make hamburgers; at 11 o'clock, fold clothes; at 13 o'clock, wash clothes..." At the booth of Uniqlo Technology, the "Work and Interaction Schedule" of Wanda, a full-size universal mobile humanoid robot for consumption, demonstrated the great potential of universal humanoid robots in housekeeping services. Astribot S1, a new generation of AI robots from Stardust Intelligence, also demonstrated skills such as folding clothes, sorting items, cooking in a pan, and even making Kung Fu tea.

The person in charge of Stardust intelligent products told the reporter of China National Radio that the above tasks are all "learned" by the robot, and no one is needed to remotely operate it. In addition, its operating speed has been significantly improved, showing agility, flexibility and smoothness comparable to that of humans or experts. "Because the home scene is very complicated, S1 chose to demonstrate its capabilities in it, but S1 is essentially a general humanoid robot, and it has rich possibilities in scientific research, commercial and home scenes." The person in charge said.

(Audience members are experiencing the Big Ai exoskeleton robot. Photo by Wan Yuhang, a reporter from China National Radio)

In addition to general humanoid robots that focus on "showing off their skills", robots that focus on vertical fields such as medical care, elderly care, and blind guides can also empower people's livelihood scenarios. During an interview at the "Robots + Healthcare" section of the conference and expo, a disabled person, Mr. Jia, who came to visit in a wheelchair, attracted the attention of the reporter of China National Radio. Mr. Jia told reporters that due to spinal injury, he needed an exoskeleton robot to help him with rehabilitation training.

In the exhibition area of ​​Da Ai Robot, Mr. Jia experienced Da Ai's exoskeleton robot. According to the on-site staff, these robots are suitable for early and mid-term rehabilitation training of patients with various types of lower limb dysfunction. As long as the program is set, the robot will automatically take the patient to walk in a natural gait. Mr. Jia told reporters that he expects these robot products to develop in a lighter and more intelligent direction. "I hope to be able to use products with rehabilitation intelligent sensory conduction training, and the lighter, smaller and cheaper the better, so that it can help more people like me." Mr. Jia said.

(“Smart Companion” demonstrates its obstacle avoidance function to the children who come to visit. Photo by Wan Yuhang, a reporter from China National Radio)

At the exhibition area of ​​Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the reporter saw an embodied intelligent guide assistant - the six-legged robot "Hui Ban". The staff of the exhibition hall introduced that this six-legged guide robot has a relatively complete visual and force perception system. It can not only realize the force control interaction between the visually impaired and the robot through the cane, but also realize the robot's perception of environmental information and human-machine multimodal interaction through the robot's visual system. Therefore, this guide robot can recognize traffic lights, see the road conditions clearly, receive voice commands from the visually impaired, and issue reminders to pedestrians around it.

"At present, our guide robot has been put into trial use indoors and outdoors in Shanghai. Perhaps in the near future, it can provide services to the visually impaired on a large scale in airports, railway stations and other places." Professor Gao Feng of Shanghai Jiaotong University said in an interview with the China National Radio. It is believed that with the encouragement and guidance of policies, the transformation and upgrading of the road traffic system, the management of background data and other related supporting facilities that are conducive to the "road use" of guide robots will be gradually improved, and the visually impaired will be able to travel more freely in public spaces.

Source: CNR

Author: Wan Yuhang

Process Editor: u070