Chinese robotics makers are looking to explore more future applications of humanoid robots through the world's first robot fighting competition that is set to take place on Sunday night in Hangzhou City.
The event, titled China Media Group (CMG) World Robot Contest: Mech Combat Arena Competition, will be livestreamed globally in the Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou.
The robots participating in the competition will not only need to master different combat techniques, but also ensure they remain stable during intense movement and confrontation.
A major goal of the competition is to test the movement stability of humanoids, which is one of the key requirements for bringing humanoid robots into everyday life, said Sun Baoyan, marketing manager of Unitree Robotics, China's top robotics company and a partner of the robot event.
"Through this competition, the robots' stability will be greatly enhanced. We hope humanoid robots will gradually achieve productive capabilities within the next three to five years," said Sun.
This competition is more than just a high-stakes competition sports. It serves as a unique test of humanoid robot technology, a showcase of cutting-edge science, and a peephole for observing latest breakthroughs in the robotics industry.
"This (competition) is essentially an exploration of the technical boundaries of robots. It aims to explore the robots' capabilities in such intense and competitive movements, and through this event, to raise public awareness of robot technology," said Liu Tai, deputy chief engineer of the Telecommunication Technology Laboratory at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.
Although equipped with AI systems, the humanoid fighters still require human "pilots" to direct their movements. The event has invited teams with different areas of expertise, providing fresh insights for robot researchers with their unique styles of competition.
"We have participants from different sectors. One is from an electric company and is experienced in using drones. He is also at the forefront of the field. We also invited an AI blogger, as AI is closely related to humanoid robots, and we are excited to see how he approaches the competition with his unique perspective," said Gao Yuan, another marketing manager of Unitree Robotics.
Chinese robotics makers look to explore future applications of humanoid robots via fighting competition
A video featuring a former member of Unit 731, a notorious Japanese germ-warfare unit during World War II (WWII), was released on Thursday in northeast China's Harbin, revealing details of how the unit used meteorological data to conduct horrific bacterial experiments on human beings.
The video was released by the Exhibition Hall of Evidence of Crimes Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army, in which former Unit 731 member Tsuruo Nishijima detailed how the unit used meteorological data to carry out a bacterial dispersal experiment.
The video was recorded in 1997 by Japanese scholar Fuyuko Nishisato and donated to the exhibition hall in 2019, according to the hall, which was built on the former site of the headquarters of Unit 731 in Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang Province.
Jin Shicheng, director of the Department of Publicity, Education and Exhibition of the exhibition hall, said that Nishijima joined Unit 731 in October 1938 and served in the unit's meteorological squad. The squad was not a simple observation section but rather an auxiliary force supporting the unit's field human experiments by measuring wind direction, wind speed, and other conditions to ensure optimal experimental results, according to Jin.
Nishijima confirmed in the footage that "the meteorological squad had to be present at every field experiment." He testified to the "rainfall experiments" conducted by Unit 731, which involved aircraft releasing bacterial agents at extremely low altitudes.
At a field-testing site in Anda City, Heilongjiang, Unit 731 aircraft descended to about 50 meters above the ground. They sprayed bacterial culture liquids onto "maruta" -- human test subjects -- who were tied to wooden stakes. Each experiment involved about 30 people, spaced roughly 5 meters apart. After the experiments, the victims were loaded into sealed trucks and transported back to the unit, where their symptoms and disease progression were recorded over a period of several days.
"Unit 731's bacterial weapons were dropped by aircraft from a height of 50 meters in the open air. Therefore, the meteorological squad needed to observe wind direction and speed, which directly affected the precision and accuracy of the bacterial weapons deployment," said Jin.
Nishijima recounted the harrowing experience of the human test subjects.
"They were fully aware that inhaling the substances would certainly lead to death, so they closed their eyes and held their breath to avoid breathing them in. Their resistance prevented the experiment from proceeding. To compel them to comply, they were forced at gunpoint to open their mouths and lift their heads," said Nishijima.
These experiments, disguised as "scientific research," were in fact systematic tests of biological warfare weapons conducted by the Japanese military. The data generated from these inhumane activities became "research findings" shared among the Japanese army medical school, the medical community, and the military at large.
"At that time, the entire Japanese medical community tacitly approved, encouraged, and even participated in the criminal acts of Unit 731. The unit comprised members from Japan's medical and academic sectors who served the Japanese war of aggression against China. Thus, Unit 731 was not just a military unit but represented an organized and systematic criminal enterprise operating from the top down," said Jin.
Unit 731 was a top-secret biological and chemical warfare research base established in Harbin as the nerve center for Japanese biological warfare in China and Southeast Asia during WWII.
At least 3,000 people were used for human experiments by Unit 731, and Japan's biological weapons killed more than 300,000 people in China.
Video offers details of Japan's germ-warfare crimes in northeast China
