Robots can fight fires in 1000 degrees; sign of booming industry.Wild fires have been plaguing countries around the world – including Australia and Europe – and China's new firefighting robot maybe a hot item.
Displayed at the 2022 World Robot Conference (WRC), the robot is able to work for over 30 minutes in an environment with a temperature over 1000 degrees Celsius. It can perform lasting firefighting and reconnaissance missions at dangerous fires for rescuers.
The WRC, held over four days, reflected the huge development of China's robot industry. According to a Chinese Institute of Electronics (CIE) report, the Chinese robot market reported a revenue of 83.9 billion yuan (about NZ$20bn) last year. About 53 per cent of the revenue came from the industrial robot sector and 47 per cent from the service robot sector.
The WRC is the largest and highest-level robot event with the widest foreign participation in China. It has become an important bridge of technology and industry linking China and other countries.
Xin Guobin, vice minister of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, says China's robot industry has reached a new level and China has become the world's largest market for robot applications.
In recent years, the Chinese robot industry has expanded quickly, with wide application scenarios. At the WRC, the concept of "robot plus" was highlighted – demonstrating the application of robots in agriculture, manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, finance, home decor and many other industries. It also showcased the important role played by robots in the "intelligentizing" and digitalization of traditional industries.
In the field of medical care, robots are not only helping patients recover as rehabilitation exoskeletons, but are also able to help surgeons to complete various types of surgeries such as joint replacement, minimally invasive, and vascular intervention surgeries conveniently and safely.
In agriculture, robots help with farming, fruit picking, animal husbandry and other agriculture operations.
Robots are also changing people's daily lives with various applications like massage, cooking and coffee making. They not only represent cutting-edge technologies but are also showing prowess in entertainment.
For instance, a 1:1 robot replica of Teresa Teng Li-Chun, a renowned Chinese pop singer who died some time ago, was displayed singing in an exhibition hall. A robot version of Albert Einstein "taught" physics to WRC visitors while another robot imitated visitors' facial expressions. At the WRC opening, 130 robot dogs danced to the music on a 1000sq m stage.
Over 500 advanced robots were exhibited at the four-day event, of which 36 were debuted, the most in WRC history, says Liang Liang, deputy chief commander of the WRC and deputy secretary-general of the CIE.