China's Spring Festival travel rush has begun!

The Spring Festival travel rush in China is driven by a massive migration of migrant workers who leave their hometowns for employment and return home to celebrate the Chinese New Year. This annual phenomenon creates a significant surge as countless individuals journey back to their hometowns to prepare for and celebrate the Lunar New Year.

The Spring Festival travel rush in 2024 officially began on January 26th and will end on March 5th, lasting for 40 days. According to data from the Ministry of Transport, the operational passenger volume for railways, highways, water transport, and civil aviation during this year's Spring Festival is expected to reach 1.8 billion, with approximately 7.2 billion people opting for self-driving travel.

In this massive "population migration," technology plays a crucial role. Intelligent service robots that assist passengers with luggage, smart skylights regulating indoor lighting and temperature, and intelligent fiber optic systems delivering sunlight to underground spaces are among the technological advancements significantly enhancing the efficiency of the Spring Festival travel and providing passengers with a comfortable and convenient travel experience.

Robots Showcase their Abilities

In recent years, an increasing number of robots have been deployed at airports and train stations to provide high-quality services to passengers. Along the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed rail line, some stations have introduced intelligent service robots for passenger assistance. These robots not only offer services like station navigation and train departure information but also assist passengers in carrying bulky luggage.

The intelligent service robots for passengers have enclosed storage compartments capable of transporting luggage weighing up to 100 kilograms. When a passenger with large luggage approaches the robot, they can place the luggage in its storage compartment. After scanning a QR code or undergoing facial recognition, the robot will follow the passenger within the station. Passengers can also instruct the robot to lead them to specific ticket inspection points.

Robots also play a crucial role behind the scenes where they contribute to the maintenance of high-speed trains. The complexity of the train structure and numerous components make manual inspections time-consuming. Now, maintenance personnel have robot "colleagues" to enhance efficiency.

The intelligent inspection robot for high-speed trains consists of a undercarriage robot, a 360-degree comprehensive detection system, control unit, multi-vision image acquisition unit, and data processing center. This robot can automatically inspect the high-speed train and analyze the collected data in detail.

The flexible arm of the intelligent inspection robot can rotate 360 degrees, facilitating multi-angle inspections. Even in narrow and complex conditions such as undercarriage inspection, the robot can rapidly inspect key components like gearboxes, traction motors, axles, brake discs, and air springs.

Utilizing a high-resolution image processing system, the intelligent inspection robot significantly improves the efficiency of inspection tasks. It can quickly perform panoramic scans and intelligent analysis of undercarriage components, reducing the overall inspection time for an eight-carriage high-speed train from the original 2.5 hours to 45 minutes.

Robot "colleagues" are not limited to inspection workshops; they are also present in high-speed rail merchandise warehouses. To enhance efficiency during the busiest hours, Shanghai Huatie Passenger Service Co., Ltd. has introduced intelligent high-speed rail merchandise distribution robots.

These robots can move and transport specified goods along planned routes. After all merchandise in the warehouse is input into the system by batches, each batch is assigned a unique serial number. The intelligent high-speed rail merchandise distribution robot can accurately locate the goods based on the serial number, reducing merchandise backlog time and significantly improving the efficiency of high-speed rail merchandise distribution.

No More Worries about Checked Baggage

Efficient and secure handling of checked baggage is a key factor in improving transportation efficiency for airports. With the application of various technological advancements, the process of checked baggage handling has become more efficient.

One of the most time-consuming aspects of checked baggage handling is waiting for baggage security checks and, if necessary, returning to the check-in counter for unpacking inspections. Currently, most domestic airports notify passengers of the need for unpacking inspections through airport broadcasts or display systems. In many cases, passengers have already left the check-in counter by the time they receive the notification, leading to inconvenience.

To address the pain points of checked baggage handling, Shandong Airport Information Technology Co., Ltd. has independently developed a checked baggage information platform, which was first launched and operated at Jinan International Airport. This platform not only proactively pushes information to passengers with baggage anomalies, enabling them to return to the check-in counter more quickly but also provides real-time tracking of checked baggage, allowing passengers to stay informed about the status of their checked baggage. This significantly improves the efficiency of baggage checks, effectively solving problems such as difficulty in finding passengers for security checks and delayed information retrieval for passengers.

Passing through security is just the first step in the checked baggage handling process. Subsequently, the baggage is conveyed to the terminal via the conveyor belt and then loaded onto the baggage transport vehicle for transfer to the aircraft cabin.

According to Xiang Yong, the Technical Director of Civil Aviation Chengdu Logistics Technology Co., Ltd., the various processes, including transportation and sorting within the terminal, have already achieved automation. However, the loading of baggage after sorting still heavily relies on manual labor. Manual loading not only consumes a considerable amount of manpower but also poses problems such as low efficiency and high error rates. Many complaints are received by civil aviation companies each year due to baggage-related issues.

Xiang Yong introduced that their team has independently developed the Baggage Automatic Loading System (hereinafter referred to as the system), which can achieve the automation of loading baggage at airports. The system primarily utilizes industrial robotic arms, visual recognition, and artificial intelligence to identify and grasp checked baggage, automatically placing the baggage on the baggage transport trailer.

Xiang Yong stated that the system has several advantages. Firstly, with the help of various perception technologies, the system can achieve gentle grasping of various types of baggage, including soft and hard packages, reducing baggage damage. Secondly, the system can be used for the automatic loading of baggage in different scenarios within the airport. Thirdly, thanks to its high degree of intelligence, the system can achieve real-time stacking of baggage and intelligent verification during loading. Moreover, the system has a small footprint, requiring no modifications to the original system for rapid installation. Finally, the system incorporates multiple safety protections, ensuring strong stability.

Creating a Homely Atmosphere at Stations

Train stations are one of the most concentrated areas for Spring Festival travelers. With the implementation of various technological advancements, train stations are gradually moving towards intelligence.

Xiamen North Station in the Jimei District of Xiamen City, Fujian Province, is one of the train stations in China with the highest level of intelligence in its station building. The station's staff can control the brightness and temperature of the station in real time, creating a comfortable waiting environment for passengers.

The intelligent skylights at Xiamen North Station can automatically open or close windows and curtains based on real-time monitoring data such as light intensity, wind speed, rainfall, and indoor-outdoor temperature differences. This improves the indoor environment and conserves energy. "It is estimated that the intelligent skylights can stop the ventilation system from running for 40 days each year, equivalent to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 14.13 tons," said Sun Yufeng, Deputy Station Manager of Xiamen North Station.

"This is the underground space that passengers pass through after exiting the station. It remains bright even without turning on the lights," said Wu Zhenbin, Duty Station Manager of Xiamen North Station.

To brighten the underground space, an intelligent fiber optic system is employed. The system's "secret weapon" is 82 sets of daylight collectors installed outdoors. These collectors, like sunflowers, "follow" the sun to collect sunlight. High-throughput special optical fibers transport the collected sunlight to the underground space, replacing electric.

"The fiber optic lighting covers an area of 7,000 square meters," explained Wu Zhenbin. He mentioned that this system can save approximately 720,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, equivalent to reducing the emission of 565 tons of carbon dioxide.

Ensuring the orderly operation of intelligent fiber optic systems, smart skylights, and other devices is the station's intelligent control system at Xiamen North Station. This system enables unified control of all equipment inside the station, including air conditioning, lighting, elevators, etc. With this system, the over 20,000 square meters waiting hall can achieve rapid cooling within 15 minutes. Furthermore, the system can automatically analyze and assess the operational status of electromechanical equipment, ensuring that the devices remain in optimal energy consumption conditions.

For those with tight waiting times who crave a warm meal, what can be done?

Located within Jinan Station is the first intelligent railway restaurant in the country, where a bowl of noodles can be prepared in as fast as 48 seconds, and an average dish can be stir-fried in 2.5 minutes. This restaurant efficiently caters to passengers with limited waiting time.

"Cooking is done by robots. This robot holds 278 national patents, ensuring standardized flavors in the dishes," stated Ren Guotao, the person in charge of the intelligent railway restaurant. From customer order to serving on the table, the fastest time for a dish is only 5 minutes.

If 5 minutes seem too long, the intelligent railway restaurant has also prepared a robotic unmanned noodle house. Staff only needs to add flour to the machine, and after 48 seconds, a delicious bowl of beef noodles is ready. "This machine takes about 2 minutes to preheat when making the first bowl of noodles. Starting from the second bowl, it only takes 48 seconds to complete," explained Ren Guotao. The machine can visualize the entire process from kneading dough to cutting noodles and cooking.

The most prominent "star" in the high-speed rail intelligent restaurant is the fully automatic intelligent coffee machine. Unlike regular automatic coffee machines, this one, equipped with a robotic arm, not only makes espresso but also mimics human coffee brewing actions, serving customers a cup of hand-drip coffee.

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Source: Science and Technology Daily.