At Peiyang Square, “Artificial Intelligence Invites the Future” technology experience activity attracted over a hundred visitors. Jiao Defang from the TJU Publicity Department hosted this event. High-tech products independently designed by TJU research teams were successively presented on the spot, including an unmanned aerial vehicle, an underwater glider and a smart car.

The MQ 300 unmanned aerial vehicle was designed by Yifei Intelligence Control. The vehicle has can operate over long-distances, enabling a man in Beijing to launch this vehicle in Hainan. Haiyan Underwater Glider is an automatic underwater vehicle driven by buoyancy and propellers, which can easily manoeuvre multi-directionally in the sea. It features an energy-saving mode and high-accuracy performance and therefore can serve in national marine defence.

Shengong Ⅱ，a human-computer interaction system which can decode patients’ thoughts and input them into a computer, has been put into medical use to help paralyzed individuals regain their ability to walk. An unmanned SUV design is also on display. Its research team is comprised of members from 6 schools and 7 research directions. Changing lanes, turning left and right and avoiding obstacles, it amazed the audience with its intelligence. Among all of these, its interactive speech system demonstrated on the spot most caught the eye.

The metamorphic robot, a multi-functional bionic robot independently designed by the TJU team, is the first of its kind in the world. Based on animals’ ability to adapt to the environment, the robot can imitate different animals’ actions in a very short time, automatically overcoming obstacles and climbing stairs. With the robot dancing to music and writing Chinese characters, the audience burst into applause. Li Zheng, 23, a postgraduate from the school of chemical engineering and technology, said he felt proud of the new technology designed by his university: “The metamorphic robot was the real transformer”.

Zhang Qiyun took her eight-year-old daughter Yingying to TJU campus early in the morning. The technology experience activity captured their attention. During the last part, a lottery was drawn by the intelligent robot and the host asked for children to be volunteers. Ms.Zhang encouraged her daughter to go onto the stage: “I hope this experience will leave a deep impression on her and be her future inspiration”.

By: Cai Wenting, Xu Lanzhi

Editors: Qin Mian and Keith Harrington