China's first self-developed cabbage harvester has started operation in central China's Henan Province, a major agricultural producer of the country.
As one of China's staple vegetables, cabbages are planted and consumed across the country. China claims half of the world's cabbage production. However, due to a lack of specialized machinery, cabbage farming in the country relied heavily on manual harvesting.
The newly-introduced machinery developed by an institute under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs proved to be very much needed for farmers.
"When the harvester is full, it automatically weighs the cabbage, and when instructed, it automatically goes into storage, which reduces manpower," said Sun Hongyou, an operator of remote-control cabbage harvesters in the field.
Capable of collecting, weighing and transporting, the machinery harvests an average of five to eight tons of cabbage per hour, more than ten times faster than manual labor.
Innovation have also been made to reduce possible harvests loss by machines.
"We use CR (chloroprene rubber) sponge with high density, which is capable of preventing damage to the harvests by wrapping the vegetable. We also have applied some soft processing techniques in the follow-up husking and storage parts of the machinery to further reduce possible damage," said Zhang Jianfei, a developer of the harvester.
The cabbage harvester with full independent intellectual property rights has been put into small batch production. It is priced at one-sixth of similar foreign imported models, and is being introduced in 11 of the 31 provincial-level regions in the Chinese mainland.
China's first self-developed cabbage harvester starts operation
The 2025 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) is underway in Beijing, bringing together global experts and industry leaders to discuss cutting-edge advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and humanoid robot innovation.
The ZGC Forum features a series of events including the "AI Theme Days" which run from March 27 to 31. This segment comprises two core forums, five specialized forums, and many featured activities.
Seven significant AI achievements were unveiled at the Future Artificial Intelligence Pioneer Forum on Saturday, including the Beijing AI Public Computing Platform Eco-Network. This network will amalgamate computing resources nationwide and optimize resource allocation, thus garnering considerable attention and discussion from attendees.
Li Dahai, a corporate executive attending the event, expressed enthusiasm about the platform's potential to provide high-quality computing services at a lower cost, and to facilitate innovation.
"Through such a plan, we can obtain very good computing power services, which have not only high quality but also lower cost. This is extremely helpful for us to better engage in innovative work. In fact, the government has also built a good data trading platform on the basis of the computing power platform. Through such a data trading platform, we can also more conveniently access more data providers, allowing large models to have more data nourishment," he said.
This year's ZGC forum also spotlights various humanoid robots, showcasing the boundless applications of new technologies.
The humanoid robot of "Tiangong" can adeptly navigates challenging terrains involving slopes, rocks, and sandbags, showcasing its skills in traversing complex landscapes.
"Our goal is to imbue robots with true intelligence, enabling them to comprehend commands, interpret their surroundings, autonomously plan task sequences, and ultimately assist in achieving objectives. In scenarios like electricity inspection which involved high voltage power cabinets, the ‘Tiangong’ robot can execute relatively hazardous maneuvers with precision," said Li Yipeng, a staff member at the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center.
Meanwhile, another humanoid robot also demonstrated football playing and completed with celebratory gestures after scoring a goal.
A robot developed by the Linkerbot Beijing Technology, capable of playing the piano with dexterity, stands out for its nimble hands. It can effortlessly handle tasks like screwing bolts and conducting research experiments.
"The robot can perform very delicate operations, such as tightening screws, in advanced manufacturing applications," said Zou Hanzhang, a staff member of the marketing department of the company.
According to the organizer, this year's ZGC Forum displays nearly 100 representative robots from 15 companies, and the humanoid robots are breaking new ground with AI in entertainment, commercial services, and are progressively finding applications in logistics sorting, healthcare and elderly care sectors.
2025 Zhongguancun Forum highlights AI, humanoid robots
