China tech fair includes robots serving drinks, quantum computing

China’s national science and technology week that kicked off on May 22 included a vast gamme of innovations, from robots serving drinks to quantum computing.

Students from Beijing 101 Middle School, dancing with robots to cheerful beats, unveiled this sci-tech week that will last until May 28.

Visitors can get a lifelike experience of extreme weather conditions such as typhoons and rainstorms through the virtual reality (VR) glasses exhibited at the event.

A quantum computer prototype “Jiuzhang” and an unmanned submersible “Haidou-1” capable of diving 10,000 meters in the Mariana Trench were also displayed for the public.

Wang Hongguang, a maglev technology developer with the Chinese train maker CRRC, pointed out that a high-speed maglev train with a maximum speed of 600 km per hour can run at a suspension of 10 millimeters.

The maglev train, which has passed the trial run in June 2020, fills the speed gap between high-speed rail and air transport, said Wang.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The sci-tech week aims to promote the popularization of science among the public through a number of small experiments. The maglev is a scientific system, but visitors can know the working mechanism of the technology by operating the fast-moving magnet suspended above the track during the event.

China endeavored to boost sci-tech development and has met the target of enhancing the science literacy of its citizens, according to the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST).

The proportion of scientifically literate Chinese citizens has increased to 10.56 percent in 2020, up by 4.36 percentage points from 2015, noted a recent survey by the CAST.

Science literacy refers to knowledge of science, as well as the scientific framework by which people make decisions and solve problems based on facts, research and knowledge.

Fendouzhe, China’s deep-sea manned submersible, successfully reached the Mariana Trench, going to a depth of 10,909 meters and setting a new record for China’s manned deep-diving.

On the occasion of the 17th Public Science Day, a part of the national sci-tech week events, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) helped primary and middle school students know how to conduct communication between deep-sea and surface.

The devices of acoustic doppler velocimeter, positioning sonars and inertial navigation assisted the positioning and navigation of the submersible, said Tong Hui, an associate researcher with the Shanghai Acoustic Laboratory, CAS.

Acoustic navigation is the main method of high precision underwater navigation, said Guo Lin, an official with the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering. The underwater acoustic communication can realize the real-time text, voice and image transmission of the submersible from the seabed to the surface.

From May 22 to 23, the CAS had opened its more than 100 institutions to the public and shared information involving different exhibits and experiments.

Such events aim to cultivate interests in science among young students and help them accumulate basic sci-tech knowledge.