Category Archives: Uncategorized

Watch: Texting Scooter Driver Swallowed by Sudden Sinkhole

Infrastructure that builds itself overnight is remarkable, but not without a cost.

Residents of Beihai saw it for themselves the other day, when an enormous sinkhole suddenly opened up on a main road. If you’ve seen your fair share of YouTube sinkhole videos, you’ll still be impressed by this mammoth-sized gaping hole, apparently about 32 feet across and 6 feet deep.

The concrete can be seen heaving one last dying breath, before collapsing in on itself like an exploding star. Next a man on a scooter zips into frame, approaching the hole at high speed. He’s texting, and doesn’t seem aware of the surprise dungeon lying a few feet ahead of him. He tries to stop after he notices, but it’s too late. His phone flies out of his hands, and the smartphone-wielding driver tumbles forward in what looks like an bottomless arc.

This could actually be pretty tragic, but luckily the guy made it out relatively unscathed. At the end of the video you can see a bystander walk over, like dude, you just fell in that big hole, bro! Apparently the guy hopped out moments later and dusted himself off, like nah bro, it’s all good, I’m always diving into street holes, dude. He received only minor injuries.

Let this be a lesson in texting and driving – if you do it, the earth will swallow you.

National Robot Warfare Competition Strikes Chord with China’s Video Game Youth

One week ago, university students from across China gathered in Shenzhen to compete in the finals of the 2017 RoboMaster competition.

The competition, in case you didn’t infer by now, is a team-based robotic fight to the death. There hasn’t been much interest in robot fighting in the US in recent years, but I remember being glued to the TV screen with my brother in the early 2000’s, watching BattleBots with untainted fascination. The cybernetic carnage of the lifeless machines, goring each other with axes, drill saws, and flamethrowers was everything a kid in that time could hope for.

If I’m being honest, at first comparison, RoboMaster seems kind of lame. There are no weapons. There are no robot knockouts, where one bot succumbs to damage and bursts into flames. The fighting is all done by beams and sensors, essentially reducing the 21st century gladiatorial spectacle of a robot deathmatch to a game of laser tag. But there are some elements that make RoboMaster interesting and unique in its own right.

Right off the bat, the team-based competition structure is worlds away from the one-on-one no holds barred robot fighting of my youth. There are five kinds of robots: hero, standard, engineer, base, and aerial. Hero and standard do the bulk of the damage, engineer can pick up obstacles and use them to hamper opponents, base is like a stationary turret that your team has to protect, and aerial is a drone. You didn’t think China would let this shindig go off without drones, did you?

So it’s not the MMA (mechanical martial arts) battle of my childhood that I look back on so fondly. But it is managing to tap into some of the major currents affecting Chinese youth today – things like e-sports, technology, money, and the struggle to elevate oneself to a position of unique respect among one’s peers. And drones.

China Global Television has an on the ground look at the finals, which you can check out above.

Photo of the Day: Cellar Window

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This is Part 6 of a six-part photo essay by Beijing-based student and artist Liu Qilin, who recently finished his freshman year of undergraduate study at Beijing Normal University. Liu, who goes by the English name Jady, is founder of the Beijing Hutong Team, a loose collective of artists and creatives united in a desire to document Beijing’s inner-city alleys (胡同, hutong), which are currently undergoing a process of “renovation” that many feel is stripping them of their historical and cultural charm.

Liu Qilin says about this photo:

At the time I took this, I was helping a friend shoot a documentary about the hutong. The scene outside hutong bar Cellar Door looked like a jungle fire. They’d lost their door and converted it into a service window, and the addition of a smiling rabbit graffiti — a common tag in the area — was the crowning touch.

Follow Beijing Hutong Team on Facebook or WeChat (@BeijingHutongTeam)

Photo of the day: Traditional Stone Carving in the Hutong

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This is Part 5 of a six-part photo essay by Beijing-based student and artist Liu Qilin, who recently finished his freshman year of undergraduate study at Beijing Normal University. Liu, who goes by the English name Jady, is founder of the Beijing Hutong Team, a loose collective of artists and creatives united in a desire to document Beijing’s inner-city alleys (胡同, hutong), which are currently undergoing a process of “renovation” that many feel is stripping them of their historical and cultural charm.

Liu Qilin says about this photo:

One day while walking in the hutong I came across these very delicate stone carvings, a vivid and lifelike tableau of bird feathers and foliage. The four characters at the top, 百鸟朝凤, are a Chinese idiom translating to “all birds look up to the phoenix” — this is both an image and phrase common in traditional Chinese art, and also the name of a recent Chinese film about the traditional musical instrument, suona.

Follow Beijing Hutong Team on Facebook or WeChat (@BeijingHutongTeam)

Here’s the Coolest/Creepiest Spider Robot You’ll See Today

Sweet spinning robots! Beijing-based startup Vincross has just launched a Kickstarter campaign for its flagship product, HEXA, which is described as a “Programmable, Highly Maneuverable Robot.” In fact it is a slightly creepy spider-bot that can write it’s own name and kinda climb stairs as retro-futuristic synthesizer music tinkles in the background:

Ok, ok… it’s not a spider, it only has six legs. It’s a hexapoda-bot. Moving on.

Here’s TechNode with a solid synopsis of what HEXA actually does:

HEXA can walk, climb and carry things, navigating with a 720p camera, night vision, a gravity sensor, three-axis accelerometer, distance measuring sensors (lasers), infrared transmitter and has other features such as WiFi and multiple ports for add-ons and connections. It has even beaten Apple to wireless charging.

In addition to HEXA, Vincross has also developed MIND, an operating system and software development kit for the tinkerers and makers of the world to more easily program their own funky robotic behaviors.

If this sounds like you, scope out HEXA’s Kickstarter below (click the “K” in the video). And do it kinda soon — they exceeded their $100k fundraising goal within days of launching the campaign, and have a limited supply of HEXA’s to spread around the early adopter community.

 

Photo of the day: Ghost of Hot Cat

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This is Part 4 of a six-part photo essay by Beijing-based student and artist Liu Qilin, who recently finished his freshman year of undergraduate study at Beijing Normal University. Liu, who goes by the English name Jady, is founder of the Beijing Hutong Team, a loose collective of artists and creatives united in a desire to document Beijing’s inner-city alleys (胡同, hutong), which are currently undergoing a process of “renovation” that many feel is stripping them of their historical and cultural charm.

Liu Qilin says about this photo:

The night I took this, my friends were planning out a short magazine they wanted to produce. After checking out some graffiti on Fangjia hutong, I went behind the live music venue Hot Cat Club, which had recently lost its street-facing entrance, and found its door sign discarded in a trash heap.

Follow Beijing Hutong Team on Facebook or WeChat (@BeijingHutongTeam)