The World Robot Conference 2023 (WRC 2023) kicked off in Beijing on Wednesday, showcasing about 600 cutting-edge robot exhibits impacting our daily life.

Consisting of three sections, including forum, exhibition, and competition, the WRC 2023 focuses on the frontier trends of robot technology and industry.

Covering 45,000 square meters, it has showcased the application scenarios of robotic innovation in various sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, trade and logistics, medical and health care, business community service, safety and emergency, and extreme environmental applications.

At the exhibition, a bionic robot cat with blue eyes and soft hair will shake its head, wag its tail, stretch, meow, and purr when people touch it.

The bionic robot cat, metaCat, developed by Elephant Robotics, can accompany certain groups like the elderly and children through intelligent voice interaction.

Customer manager Chen Jingwei said that in order to further restore cat-raising experience in real life, the company has captured and processed the movements of over 100 cats based on a deep learning framework, recording and analyzing their movement angles, rhythms and directions to make the bionic robot cat appear more vivid.

Bionic men developed by EXROBOTS were also displayed at the exhibition. Two bionic men imitating Li Bai and Du Fu, two ancient Chinese poets of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), are similar to humans in appearance, behavior and interaction.

By collecting and imitating human facial expressions, the bionic robots can present emotions such as pleasure, joy, anger, and sorrow, like humans, said Li Boyang, CEO of EXROBOTS.

Bionic robots can serve as exhibition and tour guides, and receptors of enterprises, and can be widely used in child education, elderly care, and other scenarios, said Li.

The waist exoskeleton robot displayed at the exhibition can lift a weight of more than 10 kilograms. Chen Hao, marketing manager of ULS Robotics, said the product integrates self-developed intelligent digital driver, modular deceleration system and motion control system.

With an AI-based motion control algorithm and pattern recognition, it can help manual workers reduce their labor burden and the maximum boost can reach 30 kilograms, which has greatly improved the efficiency of industrial production, the manager said.

“Except for the waist exoskeleton robot, we also have full-body powered exoskeleton robots specially developed for universities, scientific research institutes, and medical institutions on display as well as the upper-limber exoskeleton robots capable of reducing burden pressure caused by lifting during the WRC 2023,” said Chen.

Chen hopes to show new products and technologies, find business opportunities and communicate with other companies during the exhibition.

The World Robot Conference 2023 will be held in Beijing from August 16 to 22.