By Khushi Namdev
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit, which kicked off on 31st August in Tianjin, China, is showcasing cutting-edge AI innovations. A robot ice cream has emerged as an unexpected highlight, drawing significant attention from the attendees.
The 24/7 dual-arm robotic vendor, named Do. AI powers robots, operates at just 4 metres of space, and can churn out a vanilla ice cream in just 30 seconds. To date, it has already served 4,422 scoops. The robot has a screen, which begins preparing an ice cream scoop once the customer places an order. This innovation is said to be a potential game-changer for venues such as schools, theatres, and other high-traffic locations.
The machine has 2 robotic arms, which sense where the cup is and, on receiving the instructions, move its arms to the cup and take it to the machine. After which, the cup is taken nearer to the ice cream opener by another robotic arm, and it swirls around to provide a scoop of the ice cream. The machine is serving only vanilla-flavored ice cream as of now, but it plans to expand on its flavours as the technology receives encouraging feedback at the summit.
Located beside the main summit venue, the media center has become a go-to spot for more than 3000 journalists covering the event in the bustling port city. With rows of buzzing workstations to live press briefings, photo releases, summit updates, and the AI technology hub reflects the unprecedented scale of this year’s Summit.
With not just displays, but interactive and animated AI-powered machines, humanoid robots, especially curated for the SCO Summit, Beijing wants to send a message to both at home and abroad, with Tech being at the core of it. From ice cream robots to humanoid AI machines, the SCO summit not just showcased diplomacy but also China’s vision of a future powered by AI.