Leading Chinese experts and academics gathered in the coastal city of Qingdao in east China on Friday for the 2024 Chinese Automation Congress, highlighting emerging technologies including embodied artificial intelligence (AI).
The congress, sponsored by the Chinese Association of Automation (CAA), brings together nearly 20 academicians and 300 experts to discuss topics covering embodied AI, industrial internet, brain-computer interfaces, and intelligent robotics.
The event features 10 keynote speeches and 46 parallel sessions on industrial large models, smart manufacturing, optimization of unmanned systems, and intelligent healthcare.
"The combination of automation and AI is forming a new type of productivity. Our future is being reshaped by AI and automation at a speed and complexity never seen before," said Zheng Nanning, member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of the Chinese Association of Automation. The Intelligent Science Achievement Exhibition at the conference displays domestic innovation achievements, including intelligent production lines, robotic dogs, humanoid robots, and motion capture drones, demonstrating China's latest advances in automation technology.
Middle school and primary school students also take a part in the congress, presenting their works on extending science. "Among the top participants of the congress, the most cutting-edge or the most challenging subject now should extend to what we call embodied intelligence, which covers a comprehensive ability of us humans to handle complex problems, including various abilities, perceptions, responses and adaptabilities," said Li Shaoyuan, vice president of Qingdao University of Science and Technology.
2024 China Automation Congress opens in Qingdao
Spanish health authorities on Friday identified a second monitored contact linked to the hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship MV Hondius after tracing a woman living in Catalonia who had shared a flight with a Dutch traveler died from the virus.
Spain's Center for Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies said the woman is asymptomatic and was initially missed during contact tracing because of a seat change on the aircraft.
According to health authorities, the woman now meets the criteria for monitored contact under a newly approved national surveillance protocol and will remain under medical observation.
This came after the suspected case of hantavirus detected in Alicante. Spanish Secretary of State for Health Javier Padilla said on Friday that the health authorities had taken relevant measures.
In addition, Padilla confirmed that all 14 Spanish passengers aboard the MV Hondius had agreed to undergo voluntary quarantine measures in order to minimize the risk of further transmission.
The Dutch-operated expedition cruise ship, currently heading toward Spain's Canary Islands, has so far been linked to three deaths.
Padilla said a team from the Spanish Health Ministry would travel to Tenerife on Saturday ahead of the ship's expected arrival on Sunday.
Passengers are expected to disembark by small boats before being transferred under strict isolation measures. Spanish citizens aboard the vessel will be transported to Madrid for quarantine observation.
The British Health Security Agency announced Friday that a suspected hantavirus case has been detected on the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, linked to the ongoing outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship.
The vessel stopped at Tristan da Cunha between April 13 and 15.
Spain identifies second suspected hantavirus case linked to cruise ship outbreak
