Robot athletes are gearing up to race on Mount Tai with the latest technology ahead of the main event of the inaugural China Media Group (CMG) World Robot Mount Tai Competition in Tai'an City, East China's Shandong Province, next Monday.
Before the main event, CMG held a qualifier on Monday, featuring four events—legged robot racing, legged robot load-bearing, all-terrain scouting, and humanoid robot racing- all starting from Hongmen Square at Mount Tai, with different landmarks on the mountain set as finish lines for different events.
The course consists mainly of continuous stone steps, slopes, and curves, putting the robots' perception and decision-making, balance control, and endurance to the test.
After the qualifier, engineers are making final adjustments for the final, with the best-performing robots reaching the destination within one hour, much faster than their engineer companions.
"At the average speed achieved in practical training, it can reach the event finish line at Zhongtianmen in less than an hour. It can judge for itself how to avoid obstacles and plan routes in real time. During this period, we can enjoy running with the robot during the day and go back at night to optimize the algorithms. After training on this complex Mount Tai course, robots can better adapt to scenarios like material delivery and inspection," said contestant Wang Kaimin.
Robots set for Mount Taishan climbing competition to test speed
The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core keeps tightening the "cage of institutions" in Party building, which provides strong guarantees for advancing the cause of building a great country and achieving national rejuvenation on all fronts through Chinese modernization.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress held in 2012, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core included tightening Party discipline into the integrated plan on Party building in the new era, coordinating efforts to ensure that officials do not have the audacity, opportunity, or desire to be corrupt.
Full and rigorous Party self-governance has been continuously extended to the grassroots level.
In 2024, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision started a nationwide campaign on addressing misconduct and corruption directly affecting the public.
Ping'an Village in Longquanyi District of Chengdu City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, recently completed constructions of new drainage outlets and ditches, and now heavy rain no longer disrupts traveling of the locals. The fund for the constructions was recovered from money that was embezzled by village officials.
"The money was recovered, and now the problem of rainwater accumulation has been solved. And the environment is getting better and better," said villager Wang Yuangang.
Since 2012, the Party has formulated or revised an unprecedented number of internal regulations, building a comprehensive framework of rules to confine power in "a cage of institutions".
"Why establishing rules? Fundamentally, it is to ensure that Party members and officials always keep in mind who they are, for whom they work, and on whom they rely," said Song Wei, researcher with the Institute for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Tsinghua University.
"We must uphold the principle that everyone is equal before rules and regulations, no one enjoys privileges in terms of compliance, and no exceptions are allowed in their enforcement, thus making sure that rules and regulations truly become live 'high-voltage lines'," said Li Li, deputy head of the School of Discipline Inspection and Supervision of China University of Political Science and Law.
Xi also launched an unprecedented anti-corruption storm that has swept every corner of public office, netting both high-ranking "tigers" and lower-level "flies". The anti-corruption campaign has continued unabated, with Xi stressing that the fight is an ongoing endeavor.
From January to September this year alone, discipline inspection and supervisory authorities filed more than 800,000 cases, including those against 73 officials at provincial and ministerial level or above, with 680,000 people receiving punishment, including 105 officials at provincial and ministerial level or above.
"The fight against corruption in the new era has been unprecedentedly forceful with clear effects. At the same time, we must recognize that the fight against corruption remains severe and complex, and the task of eradicating the breeding grounds and conditions for corruption remains arduous. Experience has taught us that anti-corruption is a major political endeavor that we cannot afford to lose and must never lose. We cannot pause for even a moment, nor can we retreat a single step. We must carry the anti-corruption fight through to the end," said Sun Songtao, deputy director of the case supervision and management office of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision.
CPC keeps tightening "cage of institutions" in Party building
