BEIJING: Robot vehicles zip through a tabletop maze, quickly rerouting when their path comes to a dead-end, successfully reaching the destination in just a few seconds and drawing cheers from designers and spectators. This is the maze robot competition that kicked off in Tianjin Bohai Vocational Technology College (TBVTC) in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin on August 11.
Forty-four Chinese and foreign competitors formed mixed teams that competed both online and offline. Built-in algorithms enable the robots to navigate through the twists and turns of the maze. The TBVTC team won the top place in the competition.
“Through the competition, contestants can improve their skills, which is very helpful for their future careers,” Yan Kun, an associate professor at the TBVTC’s Artificial Intelligence School, told the press.
“We would like to hire candidates who win prizes in these vocational skills competitions and offer them high salaries, because we especially need this type of talent,” Song Lihong, Chair of Tianjin Qicheng Science and Technology Co. Ltd., told Beijing Review.
Song said these kinds of robots can be used in search and rescue in unknown environments, intelligent path planning, automatic driving, intelligent logistics and other technical fields, contributing to the development of related industries. The maze robot event was a part of the First World Vocational College Skills Competition, held onsite in Tianjin and Jiangxi Province in east China, and online as well. The competition took place on the sidelines of the World Vocational and Technical Education Development Conference, running from August 19 to 20.
–The Daily Mail-Beijing Review news exchange item
