China Scientist Awards Blog

  China advances in brain-computer interface technology, aiming for US$900 per procedure A Chinese brain-computer interface (BCI) company said it had seen positive results from three human implants, matching Elon Musk’s Neuralink in the number of human patients, as China prepares for wider commercialisation of the technology. Beinao No 1, a semi-invasive BCI system developed by the Chinese Institute for Brain Research (CIBR) in Beijing and its affiliated start-up NeuCyber NeuroTech, completed their first three human implants between February and March this year, the companies said last week. The Chinese government, meanwhile, is moving to support the market for BCI products, which are inching closer to commercialisation. The local government in China’s central Hubei province on Monday released the country’s first pricing guidelines for the operation, stipulating that invasive BCI implants should cost 6,552 yuan (US$902) per procedure, and that the price of removal should be 3,139 y...

  Mini robot to explore world's deepest sea trench A team of Chinese scientists has developed a miniature 2.7-kilogram deep-sea robot to explore the deepest natural frontier on Earth — the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, according to a study published in the journal Science Robotics in March. The researchers from Beihang University, formerly known as the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, have further consolidated China's position as one of the few nations able to explore the deepest depths of the oceans. Headed by Professor Wen Li, researchers from the university's School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation started working on the robot's design in 2019 and completed its construction in 2021. So far, the team has collaborated with peers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering and Zhejiang University to use the 50-centimeter-long machine for deep-sea exploration. Zuo Zonghao, a doctoral st...

  Novel low crystallinity guest acceptor boosts efficiency of organic solar cells null A research group led by Prof. Ge Ziyi at the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has developed a low-crystallinity guest acceptor D-IDT via tin-free direct C–H activation as a third component of the binary organic solar cells (OSCs), achieving a highly stable OSC with the power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to 19.92 percent. This work was published in Energy & Environmental Science. Thanks to their light weight, good mechanical flexibility, and translucency, OSCs have attracted great attention in the organic electronic device field. Currently, organic photovoltaic materials for OSCs are typically synthesized via Stille coupling reaction, which suffers from drawbacks such as complex procedures, limited cost-effectiveness, and environmental concerns. Therefore, low-cost and eco-friendly methods for synthesizing organic phot...

  Scientists develop human-like robotic hand with smart palm-finger coordination BEIJING -- Imagine a robotic hand that coordinates its palm and fingers with human-like precision -- not only grasping objects with perfect stability but also "feeling" their 3D contours and distinguishing between different materials: This vision has become reality thanks to groundbreaking research from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The innovation solves a fundamental challenge in robotics. While soft robotic hands with sensing capabilities have shown promise, existing designs primarily focused on finger sensitivity while neglecting the palm's crucial role in manipulation. The palm, as a large and crucial contact region providing mechanical support and sensory feedback, was -- up until this point -- underexplored due to limited sensing density and interaction with the fingers. The research team overcame these limitations by developing a fully integrated system where the palm and fingers work...