It's whip fast, obeys commands and does not leave unpleasant surprises on the floor – meet AlphaDog, a robotic response to two of China's burgeoning loves: pets and technology.
The high-tech hound uses sensors and artificial intelligence technology to "hear" and "see" its environment – and can even be taken for walks.
It's really very similar to a real dog
"It's really very similar to a real dog," says Ma Jie, chief technology officer at Weilan Intelligent Technology Corporation, the company behind the product.
The creators, in Nanjing, say their robot dog – which moves at a speed of almost 15 kilometres per hour and spins on the spot like an excited puppy – is the fastest on the market.
With four metal legs it is more stable than a real dog, Ma explains as one of his team swiftly kicks it to prove the point.
"It can predict the friction and height of the ground to adjust its height, adjust the stride frequency, and adapt to the environment," he said, as the robot slowly navigates going up a set of stairs.
Its creators use 5G technology, super-fast internet speeds with immediate reaction times, to make the robot operate autonomously.
Ma studied reinforcement learning – the study of how to reinforce actions through reward or punishment – at the University of Oxford and says he used that knowledge to inform how the AI dog mimics canine habits.
In the first month of sales, more than 1,800 AlphaDogs trotted off the shelves, despite the hefty price tag of 16,000 yuan ($2,445).
"Orders are mostly from computer developers, tech geeks and also kids, who really seem to like it," said Ma.
As China seeks to upskill its workforce, Beijing has been making huge investments in robotics and AI.
Robots are already used to deliver parcels, serve in restaurants, offer information at stations and even take throat swabs for Covid-19 tests.
The Weilan workshop is staffed by young tech enthusiasts, filled with pencil-design sketches and a central obstacle route of stairs and slopes for the machines to clunk over in testing.
Developers there hope future uses of their four-legged friend could benefit the visually impaired.
"To help the disabled is an important developing direction for us," said Ma. "When the robot dog has the function of vision, hearing and dialogue, too, it can easily interact with disabled people, and lead them to the supermarket or the bus."
Future software updates will include the dog "barking" – and beyond that, even add human voices to allow conversations between pet and owner.
There is also a larger "enterprise" dog model, designed for industrial inspections of machinery or pipes.
The next generation of the AlphaDog in pet form could also introduce "personalities" to the dog's toolkit to make them even more canine-like, as well as extend its somewhat brief battery life.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Schedule
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21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Yuval Noah Harari, Jonathan Cape
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
