Robots transcend technological frontiers at Winter Olympics

With dazzling lights, a group of 24 mobile robots "danced" to music with performers in an eight-minute high-tech show on Sunday at the closing ceremony of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

It was one of the world's first live performances involved such a large-scale mobile robot team and human dancers.

"The biggest difficulty is that robots are expected to perform a variety of complicated moves and be in line with the performers, lights and music," said Zhang Lei, who is responsible for developing these mobile robots at Siasun Robot & Automation Co Ltd.

Zhang added that the bad weather and uneven stage also added uncertainties to the show.

The Shenyang, Liaoning province-based company developed and applied laser guidance system to give a pair of "eyes" to the robots so that they could move accurately in the complicated environment.

To guarantee security at the closing ceremony, most of the wireless network bands the robots usually used were shielded. Faced with the bottleneck, Siasun upgraded the communication system of the robots to ensure that they could receive instructions as normal.

Affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Siasun Robot & Automation Co Ltd (Siasun) is a leading robotics enterprise in China and has one of the most comprehensive robotic product lines in the world.

Its high-tech industrial park went into operation last year and has become the largest robotic industrial base in China.

Luo Jun, CEO of the International Robotics and Intelligent Equipment Industry Alliance, a Beijing-based industry association, said the show reflects China's strength in computer vision technology. "It is a good showcase of the country's technological progress in the past years."

Siasun, China's largest robot maker by market value, is also stepping up efforts to go global. Qu Daokui, president of Siasun, told China Daily in an earlier interview that the company is looking at investing in robot technology leaders in Europe and the United States, with acquisition deals starting from at least $1 billion.

"We want to become a global tech heavyweight in 2020," Qu said.

Currently, the company's industrial robots and other products are exported to more than 30 countries and regions. Moreover, two-thirds of Siasun's customers are foreign companies.