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

Dense fog and icy conditions have forced the closure of major expressways in multiple provincial-level regions across China since Friday morning.

At 12:00 on Friday, traffic control measures, including closures, remained in effect on 16 sections of national and provincial trunk roads in Hebei, Henan, Shandong and Xinjiang. Among these, two sections had their mainlines closed, while toll stations on 14 sections were shut.

Starting from the early hours of Friday, multiple areas in Dezhou City of Shandong Province experienced dense fog, with Xiajin, Pingyuan and Yucheng reporting visibility less than 100 meters.

In parts of Xiajin, visibility dropped below 50 meters, prompting local meteorological authorities to issue a red alert for dense fog.

Affected by the fog, temporary control measures were implemented on some expressways within Dezhou, with multiple entrances closed. Traffic police strengthened presence at service areas, entrances and exits of expressways to ensure road safety.

So far, all expressway entrances and exits in Dezhou have resumed normal operation.

Many areas in Hebei also experienced dense fog, with visibility less than 200 meters in eastern Baoding, western Cangzhou, Xingtai, and eastern Handan in the province. Some localities even reported visibility below 50 meters.

Shortly after 6:00, the Hebei Provincial Meteorological Observatory issued an orange alert for dense fog.

From 23:00 on Thursday to Friday morning, over 10 key routes in Hebei, including the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao, Beijing-Kunming, Daqing-Guangzhou, Tianjin-Shijiazhuang, and Qingdao-Lanzhou expressways, were affected by dense fog.

Expressway traffic police closed some toll stations along these expressways according to fog conditions, and activated traffic diversion points to divert vehicles.

By 10:00 Friday, as visibility improved, some toll stations resumed operation.

On expressway sections with insufficient visibility, traffic police used patrol cars to lead and control the speed of vehicles, guiding stranded traffic to pass through orderly and safely.

Additionally, due to snowfall and icy road surfaces, control measures were taken on 28 expressway sections in Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Xinjiang. Among them, the mainlines of 14 sections were closed, while toll gates were shut on the other 14 ones.

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued a blue alert for snowfall on Friday morning, with parts of Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Gansu expected to be hit by heavy snow.

Foggy, icy weather forces road closure across China