The difficulty is comparable to the docking of a space capsule! For the first time in Olympic history, a robot relayed the Winter Olympics torch underwater

◎ Science and Technology Daily reporter He Liang, intern reporter Du Peng

It looks like a "curling stone", but it's also a robot!

On February 2 at the Winter Olympic Park, when the Winter Olympic torchbearer passed the Olympic flame to a special torchbearer in the field of science and technology - an amphibious robot, the sense of technology of the torch relay was instantly maximized!

The amphibious robot was seen holding a burning torch, rotating along the curling track and sliding into the entrance of the ice cave. The robot continued to dive, and the Winter Olympics torch lit up the underwater water world of the Beijing Winter Olympic Park.

At this time, the underwater variable structure robot was also constantly moving closer to the amphibious robot. When the two types of robots successfully docked and ignited underwater holding torches, the scene burst into applause.

Then, the underwater variable structure robot came out of the cave holding the lit torch, just like a synchronized swimmer emerging from the water. The burning Olympic flame once again ignited everyone's passion! The legend of the first underwater torch relay between robots in Olympic history was written.

Underwater torch ignition completed in 10 seconds

Curious viewers can't help but ask: Why does the torch still burn underwater? And how do you ensure that the robot can hover accurately underwater?

"The precise docking of robots under the ice and underwater ignition is both the biggest highlight and the biggest difficulty of the robot cross-domain torch relay. Its difficulty is comparable to the docking of a space capsule." said Dr. Tian Qiuyan, project leader of the key special project "Multi-Robot Cross-Domain Torch Relay Technology Research and System Demonstration Application" of the National Key R&D Program "Science and Technology Winter Olympics".

To realize the torch relay under the ice and in the water, it is required that the manipulators of two floating underwater robot platforms hold the torch in the complex flow field environment, and the positioning accuracy of the end of the torch is maintained within 1 cm. Tian Qiyan told the Science and Technology Daily reporter that the underwater torch has its own characteristics. After entering the underwater relay state, the relay window period is very short, and the underwater robot manipulator needs to be controlled within 10 seconds to complete the torch lighting.

In order to achieve precise underwater docking and operation of robots within seconds, the scientific research team of the Shenyang Automation Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences spent 9 months of collective research and development, breaking through key technologies such as highly adaptable motion control across ice and water media, underwater dynamic alignment, and centimeter-level precision operation of underwater robotic arms, laying the technical foundation for robotic underwater torch relay.

Special torches will automatically replenish oxygen before launching into the water

Unlike other handheld torches, the amphibious robot holds the world's first smokeless, green, clean water-to-air cross-medium torch. Only on this basis can underwater docking and ignition be achieved.

"Combustion requires three elements: combustible materials, combustion aids and ignition source. General combustion mostly uses oxygen in the air as a combustion aid, so when water isolates the air, the flame will be extinguished. The special torch delivered by the robot this time can replenish oxygen autonomously before going into the water, so it does not rely on oxygen in the air underwater." Tian Qiyan told Science and Technology Daily that the 31st Institute of the Third Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation has specially designed the burner to protect the flame through the physical structure and aerodynamic characteristics of the burner to prevent damage to the flame by the water environment.

Reflecting the perfect combination of Olympics and technology

The torch relay is a very important part of the Olympic Games. The Olympic torch relay has witnessed the continuous progress of human science and technology, civilization and wisdom. Through amphibious robots and underwater variable structure robots, the "robot-robot" torch relay on the ice and underwater across domains and media is realized, demonstrating the technological elements of the Beijing Winter Olympics and the technological level of Chinese robots.

"Our starting point is to embody the perfect combination of the Olympics and technology." Tian Qiyan said that robots are the jewel in the crown of the manufacturing industry. With the continuous development of robotics technology, the integration of robots and robots and the integration of robots and the environment is an important development direction.

"Through the multi-robot cross-domain collaborative torch relay, we demonstrate the integration between robots and the integration of robots with the ice surface and under-ice environment, which coincides with the ice and snow concept of the Winter Olympics," said Tian Qiyan.

Source: Science and Technology Daily

Editor: Zhang Shuang

Review: Julie

Final judge: Wang Yu