A new shuttle bus route between southwest China's Yunnan Province and neighboring Laos was launched on Saturday, marking a significant breakthrough in cross-border transportation for both sides following the opening of the first direct bus service in November 2025.
Connecting Yunnan's Jinghong City in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and Laos' Ban Xang Khong village in Luang Prabang Province, the new route is about 280 kilometers and takes seven to eight hours for a one-way trip.
A direct trip between the two sides is scheduled every day, providing point-to-point services.
New China-Laos passenger transport route launched
China has recently made a breakthrough in deploying embodied AI robots for specialized purposes in high-risk environments, marking a significant step forward for the country's intelligent equipment industry.
One of the newly applied robots features humanoid dual arms, magnetic wall-climbing capability, and large-scale AI models, allowing it to replace human workers on hazardous tasks such as welding, flaw detection, and rust removal on chemical storage tanks, ships, and energy facilities.
Meanwhile, the robot is cable-powered, enabling continuous operation without battery limitations.
"Behind this robot is China's largest large-scale model for special-purpose robots. To train the model, our robots have accumulated over 100,000 hours of operation. They have covered a total working distance of 22,500 kilometers, more than half the Earth's equatorial circumference, and have operated across an accumulated area of over 5,000 square kilometers. The vast and rich amount of data has allowed the robot to learn extensively and become increasingly intelligent," said Pu Xiao, head of a special-purpose robot research and development team.
In addition, a land-based inspection robot has also been put into use.
It features a robust and highly flexible 6-axis robotic arm, capable of replacing human workers in dangerous scenarios such as fires or toxic gas leaks to perform tasks like shutting off switches or turning valves.
The robot can also detect fires or faults within a range of 2,000 meters, issue timely warnings, and help minimize potential dangers.
China deploys embodied AI robots in high-risk environments to perform dangerous tasks.
