Robots steer toward tomorrow's world

Surgical robot

Liu Yu, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer at Shanghai MicroPort MedBot (Group) Co, said in a speech at WAIC: "Medical service is probably one of the things that people care about the most, because health is most important. To meet such requirements, we provide solutions that cover operations from head to toe."

The company's robots, which include those for vascular intervention, orthopedic operations and laparoscopic procedures, can conduct minimally invasive surgeries.

The laparoscopic surgery robot, which stood out among more than 800 projects, was one of the five winners of this year's Super AI Leader Award for its special contribution to AI.

Combining the technologies for 5G, augmented reality, intelligent surgery comprehension, and automotive surgical platforms, the robot conducts surgery by using X-ray vision and a brain like that of a human.

"Now, with the help of a robot, doctors can perform laparoscopic operations in shielded rooms by using a computer mouse. Such advances have greatly reduced the difficulties of performing such surgery," Liu said.

Since December, nearly 300 clinical surgeries, all of them highly complicated, have been conducted by the laparoscopic robot.

Liu said: "The outlook for robotic surgery is extremely promising, and we are going to develop more such robots and reduce the cost of surgery performed by them. Our fundamental goal is to make all surgeries easy to conduct."

Meanwhile, Shanghai Xiaojia Data Technology Co launched iSward, its intelligent mowing robot, at this year's WAIC.

Chen Xiao, the company's CEO, said: "There are about 250 million private lawns and gardens globally, of which some 80 million are in member states of the European Union, and 100 million are in the United States, creating a market of between $60 billion and $70 billion globally.

"In contrast, the market for autonomous mowing robots is merely $1 billion. As technologies are continually upgraded and labor costs rise, this market could exceed $10 billion in coming years."

Compared with a conventional robotic mower, which can barely meet demand for lawns or gardens of more than 1,000 square meters, iSward is suitable for those with a maximum area of 5,000 sq m, and the robot's autonomous navigation technology ensures the work is completed with maximum efficiency, Chen added.

"This is because the product is incorporated with visional AI and satellite positioning technologies," Chen said.