Chinese special police hold bomb disposal robot competition

A bomb disposal robot competition was held in the city of Urumqi in northwest China's Xinjiang Tuesday as part of a national special police contest which opened a day earlier.

In the competition, contestants operated wheeled or tracked robots to cross obstacles and dispose of simulated explosives.

"During real operations, we select robots based on different types of terrain. Large robots have a high center of gravity when climbing stairs, making them prone to tipping forward or sideways. Small robots are more stable on stairs and have better mobility, but their grip strength is weaker than large robots," said Zhang Haijun, a contestant from the Xinjiang special police team.

After clearing obstacles, grabbing simulated explosives in an accurate and safe manner with the mechanical arm posed another major test for bomb squats. The slightest errors in force or angle could trigger danger in real life situations.

Bomb unit officers say they routinely practice controlling the robots to grab all kinds of objects to practice their handling.

"During daily trainings, we use raw and cooked eggs for practice. We started with hard objects, then gradually progressed to ping pong balls and eggs to improve our skills," Zhang explained.

China's agricultural exports had maintained growth for five consecutive years as of 2025, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

In the first eight months of 2026, the country's agricultural exports reached 492.03 billion yuan (about 73.44 billion U.S. dollars), up 4.2 percent year on year. The main export categories were vegetables and edible fungi, aquatic products, and dried and fresh fruits and nuts.

Among them, agricultural exports from east China's Shandong Province hit 114.05 billion yuan (about 17.02 billion U.S. dollars), up 5.5 percent, accounting for 23.2 percent of the country's total agricultural exports value and ranking first nationwide for 27 consecutive years.