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Fuwa Robots Welcome Olympic Visitors to Beijing

Passengers arriving at Beijings Capital International Airport for the Olympic Games in August were welcomed by talking robots resembling the five Fuwa mascots. Fuwa robots can speak 12 languages and can hold simple conversations in both Chinese and English. They can even tell stories and jokes to waiting passengers, and people can check for Olympic information using touch screens.

First Mobile TV Store Opens

The first CMMB (China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting) sales center has opened in Zhongguancun, Chinas version of Silicon Valley in Beijing, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has announced. By the end of the year, the city will have 10 additional stores. The CMMB signal will cover all of Beijing inside the Fifth Ring Road, and users will be able to watch television free-of-charge as long as they have purchased a mobile phone with a built-in CMMB chip, GPS and a USB TV stick.

So far, the CMMB signal is available in 37 cities. Audiences can watch CCTV-1, CCTV-3, CCTV Olympics, CCTV News, CCTV Children, CCTV International and local television broadcasts.

Chinese Commercial Supercomputer Developed

Chinas new supercomputer, the Shuguang 5000, can process in real time 10 years worth of data on over 1,000 stocks and perform calculations on 200 types of indexes for each, all within a second. The high performance computer has a floating-point processing capability of 230,000 billion operations a second, and its Linpack speed is estimated at 160,000 billion operations a second.

It was jointly developed by the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Shuguang Company and the Shanghai Supercomputer Center. The Shuguang 5000 makes China the second country after the United States to produce commercial supercomputers with a calculation capacity in the hundreds of trillions.

New Member of Lunar Vehicle Family Unveiled

The Harbin Institute of Technology, which developed Chinas first lunar surface explorer, has unveiled its latest lunar vehicle, an eight-wheeled rover equipped with a differential gear torsion bar spring. Preliminary simulations have given the vehicle high marks.

The new model contains two independent solar panels that can expand and adjust themselves automatically, and has a positioning antenna, omni antenna and barrier-avoiding cameras in the front and rear. Its eight wheels are independently driven, and combined with four additional directional wheels give the vehicle 360-degree mobility and allow it to climb over obstructions and pits. Multiple wheels also avoid the perils of becoming trapped in the lunar dust by increasing their contact area with the lunar surface.

Xinzhou600 Regional Turbo-prop

Rolls off Production Line

The first domestically designed and manufactured regional turbo-prop has rolled off the production line, the Xian Aircraft Industry (Group) Company, Ltd. has announced. The aircraft is expected to enter service in 2009.

The Xinzhou600 is Chinas most advanced turbo-prop airliner yet. Three meters high and 24 meters long, it has a range of over 3,000 kilometers, about 1,000 kilometers farther than other types of regional aircraft operating throughout the world. It is both safe and fuel efficient, undercutting the operating cost of turbo-jets by 40 percent.

New Sounds Produced Using Novel Materials

The family of ultra crystals has a new addition that can be used as a sound amplifier -- I-dop. Entirely different from traditional magnetic coil amplifiers, it can interpret sounds based on a diverse range of materials, from wood to glass, and tile to metal.

Its size and shape can be altered at will, but regardless of how large or small, the tone quality will not be compromised, and I-dop can be linked to any type of I-pod as a speaker.

Solar Multi-media Curtain Wall

The worlds largest solar multi-media curtain wall has recently been set up in Beijing. Appearing as the external wall of the Beijing Huihuang Jingya Hotel, the 2,200 square meter panel cost about RMB 20 million, and comprises 2,300 photoelectric plates. The solar panel saves sunlight and transforms it into electricity that can power LED lights in the evening.

Low Gas Concentrations

Used to Generate Power

A new technology has been developed to transform gas with a concentration as low as six percent into electricity. The gas in question is a mixture of air and methane. Every year, gas equivalent to 13 billion cubic meters of methane is produced during mining operations, 90 percent of which is released directly into the air due to its low concentration. Methane is destructive to the ozone layer and the biggest safety concern for mines. The best way to use the surplus gas, therefore, is to generate power. Currently, only gas with a concentration of 40 percent or above can be used. For a large quantity of gas with a 25 percent concentration or lower, there is no safe or reliable method to transport it. A novel water mist transportation system, developed by the Shengli Engineering Construction (Group) Corporation, Ltd. at the Shengli oilfield, makes it possible to use gas with concentrations as low as six to 25 percent to generate electricity.

Hi-tech Help for Tired and Injured Athletes

During the Olympics, a therapeutic instrument lined with special ceramic beads was used to help athletes recover from fatigue and improve their skill levels. According to its inventor, Tsinghua University, the special ceramic beads can, after being warmed up, send out infrared radiation to heat the body, enhancing comfort and relaxation. The human body experiences fatigue after exertion because of a build-up of toxic wastes produced during metabolism. The infrared rays are able to speed up the process and improve blood circulation, allowing toxins to be more easily discharged.