China's first full-size humanoid robot competition begins, with industry, academia and research gathering forces to boost industrialization

Robot Lecture Hall learned that today (December 28), the 26th China Robot and Artificial Intelligence Competition Humanoid Robot Innovation Challenge was officially launched in Suzhou. This is the first full-size humanoid robot held in China. The event has received widespread attention in the industry.

This competition is hosted by the China Robot and Artificial Intelligence Competition Organizing Committee, Leju (Suzhou) Robot Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing General Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, Suzhou University Robotics and Microsystem Center, Shenzhen Kaihong Digital Industry Development Co., Ltd. Hosted by the company.

It is reported that this competition includes two stagesonline simulation trial and offline competition. The online simulation selection competition will be held from January to April 2024, and the offline competition will be held in Taihu New Town, Wujiang District, Suzhou City in the summer of 2024. The simulation selection competition will provide participants with the Sim2Real standard simulation open source platform. Participants can compete on any robot platform that meets the competition regulations without equipment.

With the core of "promoting research through competition, promoting production through research, and gathering intelligence to tackle key problems", the competition aims to promote the ecological integration of upstream and downstream, focusing on typical cases of families and special scenes, to accelerate the mass production of humanoid robots and the implementation of industrial scale.

▍Create multiple "firsts", close to real scenes

Since 1999, the China Robot and Artificial Intelligence Competition has gone through 25 sessions. This long-established event not only witnesses the vigorous development of China's science and technology, but is also the cradle of cultivating countless outstanding scientific and technological talents. Every year, tens of thousands of contestants actively participate, and they come from more than 600 universities across the country, including top domestic universities such as Tsinghua University, Fudan University, and Harbin Institute of Technology. After years of accumulation, this competition has become one of the most influential and highest-level robotics competitions in China. Picture | Previous events

Picture | Previous events

Picture | Previous events

Picture | Previous events

It is reported that this competition is extremely professional and has received support from Beijing Institute of General Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Microsystems Center of Suzhou University, Zhijiang Laboratory, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology Taier Terminal Laboratory, and the Department of Computing of Harbin Institute of Technology , Tsinghua University School of Integrated Circuits, Shandong University School of Computer Science and Technology and other top domestic universities and institutions are fully supported. These institutions will provide all-round technical guidance and support to the contestants to help them achieve excellent results in the competition.

In terms of event setting,

This challenge has created many "firsts"

: it is the first time to move from a simulation scenario to a real family and special service scenario, it is the first time to realize a fully autonomous intelligent operation competition, and it is the first time to compete in an event. Generative large model task planning assessment is introduced. These all reflect the competition’s in-depth thinking on practical applications and the foresight of technology. These innovative settings will provide participating teams with a broader stage and more challenging tasks.

The difficulty level of this competition has also been fully upgraded. The participating teams will face the challenges of eight scenario tasks such as cargo picking and placing, terrain adaptation, and valve switching.

These tasks not only test the technical abilities of the contestants, but also serve as a collective intellectual solution to technical problems in future service and production scenarios. Through such challenges, contestants will have the opportunity to deeply study the technical bottlenecks of humanoid robots in practical applications and propose innovative solutions.

Picture | Online Simulation Competition

Picture | Online Simulation Competition

Picture | Online Simulation Competition

▍The competition is comprehensive and encourages innovation and exploration

Robot Lecture Hall learned that participating robots need to complete all tasks independently under the requirements of fully autonomous operation and cannot rely on human remote control. This regulation undoubtedly improves the evaluation standards for robots’ autonomous decision-making and execution capabilities. The participating teams need to let the robot understand and execute complex instructions, such as "I am thirsty", and autonomously translate them into a series of coherent actions, including walking to the living room, checking the drinks on the table, making the decision to get water, and finally achieving this One goal. This ability of semantic understanding and multi-step task planning is rigorously tested in competitions.

Picture | Online Simulation Competition

The indoor scene mainly examines the robot's task planning ability, which is equivalent to the robot's "brain" ability. The outdoor scene focuses more on testing the robot's autonomous control and movement capabilities, which is a reflection of the robot's "cerebellum" ability. The dual settings of home indoor scenes and special environment outdoor scenes are designed to comprehensively test the intelligent performance of the robot. This setup not only evaluates the adaptability of robots in daily home environments, but also tests their ability to cope in complex or special environments.

In order to lower the entry threshold, the organizing committee provides players with a complete simulation environment, basic skill modules, programming interfaces and other resources. These support measures are designed to help more players who focus on software algorithms to participate in the competition. The judges will make a comprehensive evaluation based on the two dimensions of task completion and time to ensure fairness and justice.

▍Industry leading companies join industry-university-research institutes to jointly promote technology commercialization

This competition is led by industry leading companies such as Haier Robotics Technology (Qingdao) Co., Ltd. and China Mobile (Hangzhou) Information Technology Co., Ltd., and is co-organized by more than ten upstream and downstream related companies. In this competition, we will use Zhijiang Laboratory, CAICT Tell Terminal Laboratory, Leju (Suzhou) Robot Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Kaihong Digital Industry Development Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Huibo Robot Technology Co., Ltd., Suzhou Jun Rudder Robot Co., Ltd. and relevant university research institutes and other units are representatives of collaborative research. In terms of humanoid robot parts, including servo motors, reducers, controllers, sensors, etc., software aspects include environmental perception, human-computer interaction, machine Learning, system control, etc., to carry out innovative breakthroughs in key technologies and products.

Industry analysis shows that leading companies can take advantage of their respective advantages in users and scenarios to promote the extension of technology to commercial applications in more fields, so that the results can be implemented faster. For example, Haier and China Mobile will take advantage of their large user base and wide range of application scenarios to promote the creation of typical application cases for robots in smart homes, smart manufacturing, special services and other scenarios, and accelerate the multi-scenarios of "humanoid robots" innovative application process.

It is reported that the Suzhou Robot Industry Association and China Robot Network, as special supporting units, will link the upstream and downstream resources of the industrial chain for collaborative innovation to provide strong support for the market promotion and influence of humanoid robots.

▍Promote the industrialization process and move towards large-scale application

With the development of science and technology, humanoid robots, as technical representatives in high-precision fields, are gradually moving from the laboratory to the market. Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Innovation and Development of Humanoid Robots", proposing that humanoid robots are expected to become disruptive products after computers, smartphones, and new energy vehicles, and made it clear that mass production will be achieved by 2025.

This competition is application-oriented and aims to promote technological innovation and industrial integration, and promote the transformation of humanoid robots from virtual to real scenes. By solving common scene application problems, we will accelerate the implementation of humanoid robots from technology to industry, and accelerate the mass production and large-scale application of humanoid robots. This process will enhance our country's overall innovation strength and help our country move towards the goal of becoming a robot power.

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