The amphibious robot passes the flame to another submersible robot in the water in the Beijing Winter Olympic Park, February 2, 2022. [IMAGE: VCG]

The first underwater torch relay between robots in the history of the Olympic Games was completed by two robots developed by the Shenyang Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (SIACAS) at Beijing Winter Olympic Park on February 2, two days ahead of the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

The torchbearer passed the flame to the first robot, which is designed like a curling stone and is capable of functioning both on land and in water, and the amphibious device glided along the curling track before entering the water at the designated spot; it then dived to a specified depth and waited for the second robot to approach and fetch the torch.

The second robot, an underwater variable one, traveled for quite a distance, and then made its way out of the exit point and passed the flame to the next torchbearer.

The SIACAS team made many technological breakthroughs such as highly adaptive motion control between ice and water, underwater dynamic alignment of complex flow field disturbances, accurate operation of underwater manipulators, and cross-medium reliable combustion organization.

They also developed the first green clean water air cross-medium torch and realized underwater high-precision docking of robots.

According to SIACAS, the robot development project was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and undertaken by a research team led by the institute.

“As representatives from a research institute we feel such pride and were inspired to develop with the project,” said the team leader Tian Qiyan, who is also an associate research fellow of the institute.

With the support of the MOST, the team has developed a flying robot, a ground robot, and a hexapod robot on ice and snow, which have been tested in Shenyang and Beijing and has supported torch relays for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

Source: Xinhua