A senior official from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Friday said China will step up efforts to improve people's living conditions by building "quality homes" which are safe, comfortable, eco-friendly and smart.
For a long period of time, owning a home has been a common aspiration among Chinese citizens who rushed to towns and cities during the country's urbanization drive. However, this aspiration is increasingly evolving as people are now focusing more on the quality of their living conditions.
Vice Minister of Housing and Urban-rural Development Chen Shaowang told a press conference in Beijing that the ministry will urge engineering contractors to build quality homes with higher baseline standards covering features such as ceiling height, ventilation, natural light, sound insulation and indoor air quality.
"What kind of quality homes should be built? They should be safe, comfortable, green, and smart. How should quality homes be built? By advancing the entire process, from standards, designs, and materials to construction, operation and maintenance, across the full life cycle," said Chen. Chen said that the ministry has carefully listened to public opinions on improving living conditions and has raised housing quality requirements in 14 areas.
For example, a notable requirement in the new standards for residential buildings is that the minimum ceiling height should be raised to 3 meters from the original 2.8 meters.
Other specifying requirements include mandatory elevators for structures with four or more floors, and enhanced sound insulation standards for walls and floors.
To address child safety protection, the height of guardrails at all open-air edges, such as balconies and outer corridors, will be uniformly raised to no less than 1.2 meters.
China to intensify efforts to secure high-quality housing: vice minister
Hundreds of robots will be tested for real-world roles at an upcoming expo in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, as the industry shifts from eye-catching demos to practical applications
The organizer, China Media Group, will host this Zhejiang leg of the 1st Intelligent Robot Application Skills Exhibition on Sunday, with more than 60 companies showcasing over 300 robots spanning special operations, smart commerce and public services.
Rather than showing off dazzling moves, the machines will recreate real work scenarios and demonstrate what they can do on the job. Ahead of the opening, robot squads are drilling hard at the rehearsal site.
Among them is a team that simulates an air-ground collaborative patrol. A drone drops supplies at a target location before a robot dog takes over. That dog is no rookie. It has already been deployed in chemical plants and industrial parks across the country, handling inspection and security duties, and is equipped with infrared cameras and gas sensors that let it sense its environment on its own.
Next comes a more unusual four-legged machine with a robotic arm. As the rehearsal shows, it can grab obstacles in its path. Though small, it handles objects weighing around two kilograms with ease, a capability that could prove valuable in hazardous settings such as nuclear power plants and chemical facilities.
Another machine on display is a spray painting robot. Its arm extends up to 3.2 meters, and it can build parametric maps on site and automatically plan its own painting routes for walls and ceilings. It is built for large, high-altitude spraying jobs, taking on the complex and grueling work that would otherwise fall to people.
China Media Group launched its first Intelligent Robot Application Skills Exhibition in Beijing in July, aiming to help smart robots find practical use across more fields and inject fresh momentum into economic and social development.
Robots to take on real-world jobs at application skills expo in Hangzhou
