BEIJING (Xinhua) — The following are the highlights of China’s key technology news from the past week:
Square Kilometer Array
Construction of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), the world’s largest astronomical device, is expected to start next year, and China, one of the founding members, is preparing to build a regional data center and developing its reflector antennas.
SKA will be the largest and most advanced radio telescope ever. It will combine signals received via thousands of small antennas spreading over 3,000 km to simulate a single giant radio telescope with a total collecting area of approximately one square kilometer and capable of extremely high sensitivity and angular resolution.
Huawei’s AI Processor
Chinese tech giant Huawei on Friday launched the Ascend 910, which is described by the company as the world’s most powerful artificial intelligence (AI) processor, and an all-scenario AI computing framework MindSpore.
The Shenzhen-based company said the Ascend 910, which will be used for AI model training, performs much better than previously expected.
Robotics Industry
Industrial robot production in China reached 148,000 pieces in 2018, accounting for more than 38 percent of the world’s total, said an official at the 2019 World Robot Conference.
China’s industrial robot market has become the world’s largest, accounting for one-third of global sales. There are expected to be more than 130 robots per 10,000 people in China by 2021.
Brain-Controlled Drone
Chinese researchers have developed a brain-controlled rescue drone that enables the unmanned aircraft to have precise and reliable identification in sandstorms, haze and other low-visibility weather.
The drone system mainly comes in the form of a headset with electrodes, which can detect the brain’s electrical activity, or brain waves, using electroencephalography (EEG).
