China to develop a batch of advanced robots for disaster prevention and rescue by 2025

Visitors interact with a four-legged robot at the Exposition on China Brand 2023 in east China's Shanghai, May 10, 2023. (Photo: Xinhua)

China will develop a batch of advanced emergency robots by 2025, which can partially or completely replace human work in future disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief, said the country's emergency and information technology authorities.

The aim is to greatly improve the robots' scientific, professional, refined, and intelligent capabilities and establish a number of bases where the robots can be trialed and put into use, according to the guideline on accelerating the development of emergency robotics, which was jointly released by Ministry of Emergency Management and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Thursday.

The guideline required emergency robots to be able to perform tasks such as monitoring and warning, search and rescue, communication and command, logistical support, and production operations, saying such robots can enhance the efficiency and safety of production and rescue in complex and hazardous scenarios.

The two ministries emphasized robot development in scenarios of flood rescue, forest and grassland fire rescue, earthquake and geological disaster relief, urban firefighting, emergency command communication, and workplace safety, promoting the mode where robots can replace humans in large-scale disasters rescue.

The document pointed out technological difficulties which were urgently needed to be broken through, such as the robots' ability to withstand harsh environments of high temperatures, high humidity, high altitudes, extreme cold, corrosion, complex underwater conditions, as well as adverse weather conditions of strong rain, snow, and winds.

According to the Ministry of Emergency Management, the natural disasters in the first three quarters of 2023 affected more than 89 million people in China, with 499 deaths or missing due to these disasters and caused direct economic losses of more than 308 billion yuan ($43 billion).