Humanoid robots with cutting-edge technology to shine at fighting competition

The world's first robot fighting competition will open on Sunday in Hangzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province, highlighting humanoid robots equipped with cutting-edge technologies.

The event, China Media Group (CMG) World Robot Contest: Mech Combat Arena Competition, will be livestreamed globally.

The competition is set in the Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou. The participating humanoid robots not only master fighting skills such as straight punches, hooks, and side kicks, but can also stand up quickly after falling to the ground. 

Sun Baoyan, marketing manager of Hangzhou-based tech startup Unitree Robotics, one of the developers of the robots, said that these moves are extremely challenging for the robot's balance ability, reaction speed, endurance, and other factors.

"Taking a leg swinging action as an example, the motion control program needs to first analyze the various sensors inside the robot, so that it can sense the state of its body in real time, and then mobilize the motors of each joint to complete such a set of actions. This series of analyses are achieved in milliseconds," Sun said.

A greater challenge for the developers is to solve problems such as robot stability, endurance and heat dissipation in high-intensity confrontations.

The competition mainly consists of two parts: exhibition matches and competitive matches. On the eve of the event, both developers and robots are undergoing high-intensity skill training every day.

"We need to add a lot of fighting-related actions to the robot, all of which require special optimization. At the same time, you can see that our robot has a very strong anti-fall capability, thanks to the large amount of optimization work we have done in motion control algorithms," said Wang Qixin, a board member of Unitree Robotics.

All robots used in this competition adopt domestically developed core technologies. In addition to professional referees and commentators, experts in related fields will be invited to the competition site to deeply analyze the robots' every move, presenting a feast of technology and vision for the audience.

"We have adopted a lot of new technologies in camera settings and technical applications, including free view, AR, VR, and online packaging, trying to use more stylized lenses to make each robot very vivid (in the livestreaming) and make their performance in the matches more infectious. We also hope to further explore the capabilities of humanoid robots through such live broadcasts," said Jiang Hua, chief technical director of the event.

Humanoid robots with cutting-edge technology to shine at fighting competition

China has continued to push forward the rural construction initiative this year, bringing steady improvements to rural production and day to day living conditions.

So far, the total mileage of rural roads across the country has reached 4.7 million kilometers.

In Songhui Village, Zanhuang County of north China's Hebei Province, local authorities have invested over 40 million yuan (about 5.96 million U.S. dollars) this year to upgrade 287,000 square meters of roads and install streetlights. A new road is currently under construction in the village.

"Once completed, the road will connect three nearby townships and 16 administrative villages, fundamentally improving travel for local farmers, the transport of agricultural produce, and the development of tourism," said Hao Longhai, a local construction official.

Villages in China have also focused on the needs of local specialty industries, targeting shortcomings in production-related infrastructure.

In Taihu County of east China's Anhui Province, where cattle farming is a major driver of villagers' incomes, local authorities have coordinated roughly 30 million yuan in rural development funds this year to advance a provincial-level breed conservation center and an organic fertilizer processing plant.

"Conditions have been improved significantly. What matters most is that my cattle pen can now connect to the province-wide remote monitoring system for livestock and poultry genetic resources, enabling work such as breed conservation, breeding, scientific research and disease prevention to be managed through an online platform," said Zhu Yong, head of a local breed conservation center.

Infrastructure for day to day living is also a key priority in rural development efforts this year.

As of the end of August, over 130 billion yuan in project funding had been secured for rural construction, and steady improvements have been made to village roads, water supply and drainage systems, sanitary toilet upgrades, household waste and sewage treatment and elderly care facilities.

Living, production conditions in China's rural areas continuously improved