Nearly 2,000 contestants from more than 100 universities, research institutions and enterprises showcased cutting-edge robots including the leading brain computer interface (BCI) devices at the 2021 World Robot Contest Championships concluding in Beijing on Monday.
The contest, which is held concurrently with the four-day World Robot Conference, comprised four categories, namely “Tri-Co” robots (coexisting-cooperative-cognitive), BCI robots, youth robot design and robot application.
“The 2021 World Robot Contest is the seventh edition since its onset in 2015. The contest’s content, pattern and system have been gradually enriched, innovated and improved respectively over time,” said Zhang Yuewei, deputy secretary-general of the World Robot Contest’s organizing committee.
The “Tri-Co” category, which focuses on the application of robots in smart manufacture and healthcare, tests whether the robots can adapt to complex dynamic environment and collaborate with humans and other robots in a working environment.
As for the BCI robots, which assesses and analyses brain signals and translate them into commands, will meet the needs in healthcare, elderly care and rehabilitation. Teams from leading research institutions and universities showcased their state-of-the-art devices at the contest.
Professor Zhang Xiaochu from the University of Science and Technology of China said his team is working on using BCI technologies to monitor the brain activities of people with Internet addiction and make cognitive behavior changes.
“Our lab is called ‘the cognitive neuropsychology laboratory’, and our research focuses on brain mechanism. We hope our research will develop methods to control brain without causing any damage,” said the professor.
