The 2024 World Robot Contest Finals, just concluded on Tuesday in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, has captivated visitors with exciting robot battles and groundbreaking technologies.
The event consists of two major competitions: Brain-Computer Interface or BCI Brain-controlled Robot Competition and Youth Robot Design Competition.
Running from Jan 16 to 21, the event covers more than 20 major events, 50 minor events and 100 competition groups, providing a broad competitive stage for robot enthusiasts around the world.
During the six-day event, incredible displays realized by BCI technology, like typing and communicating with mind, have also taken the spotlight at the fair.
BCI refers to a system allowing a person to control a computer or other electronic device using his or her brainwaves, without requiring any movement or verbal instruction.
At the competition site, young contestants, wearing portable devices on their heads, silently controlled line-following robots to complete challenge tasks by leveraging their brainwave signals.
Wu Qin, a referee of the competition, explained that the performance of contestants is determined by their level of concentration during the event, with the data being collected from within the human brain.
"The BCI device works kind of like a fitness tracker that monitors our heart rate and blood oxygen levels," Wu added.
Meanwhile, a display and experience area, showcasing various application scenarios of BCI, have attracted crowds of visitors.
"I just experienced the mood breathing light and visual typing. Both are quite advanced. I haven't come across similar things before. This competition let us learn about these novel devices, and it's great," said a visitor.
Robot competition wows public with advancing brain-computer interface technology
Robot competition wows public with advancing brain-computer interface technology
China's research icebreaker Xuelong, or the Snow Dragon, arrived at the first station of its 42nd Antarctic expedition in Amundsen Sea on Saturday.
Within the planned 18-day stay in the South Pole, the vessel will complete operations at more than 20 stations.
At 01:00, the Xuelong reached its first oceanographic station in the Amundsen Sea. Crew members aboard immediately began deploying a conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) instrument into the sea to measure salinity and temperature at various depths of seawater.
The first station, with a depth exceeding 4,000 meters, represents the deepest area among all stations.
At an average deployment speed of 60 meters per minute, lowering the equipment from the sea surface to the seafloor alone requires more than an hour.
After all 24 water bottles on the CTD device completed sampling, it was hoisted back into the sampling room. Then, the research team sprang into action. Based on the corresponding depths of each bottle, they swiftly filled various containers with the required seawater samples and immediately transported them to the laboratory for pretreatment.
"We collect samples from every layer of the sea. pH value serves as a crucial indicator of seawater acidity, making it an essential parameter for studying ocean acidification," said Qin Jie, a member of the ocean team on board the Xuelong.
"My research focuses on greenhouse gas concentrations in seawater, requiring samples from all water layers," said Lan Kexin, another ocean team member on board the vessel.
"I study microplankton in the water, primarily their abundance and species composition, which also necessitates samples from all water layers," said Han Zheyi, an ocean team member.
After completing the water sampling operations, the team promptly proceeded without pause to conduct a series of additional tasks, including biological vertical trawling, krill trawling, midwater fish trawls, and gravity core deployments.
China's Xuelong icebreaker starts 42nd Antarctic expedition
