Young robot enthusiasts compete in the 2020RoboCom. [Photo/ori.hangzhou.com.cn]

The 2020RoboCom, the fifth edition of an annual high-profile robot competition popular among young robot enthusiasts in China, kicked off in Xiaoshan robot town in Hangzhou on Aug 18.

The competition will last for six days, during which a teenager robot contest, a robot fair, and a robotics entrepreneurship contest will be held.

The teenager robotics contest has adopted both online and offline channels. A total of 500 people stood out from the more than 20,000 participants in the online RoboCom robot creation contest, while nearly 6,000 people competed in the competition's main venue Xiaoshan robot town, as well as sub venues in Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou.

According to the organizing committee, in light of the COVID-19 epidemic, it is the first time that the competition has set up sub venues, which has also provided opportunities to more teenagers to participate.

The organizing committee has developed standard contest items with unlimited equipment in terms of the three competition formats of confrontation, task, and creativity since 2017, such as Star Trek, Climbing the Peak, and Jagged Mecha, which are welcomed by contestants because they are compatible with most robot equipment and products.

The robot fair is open to the public and is popular with families. Aiming to further popularize artificial intelligence technology and stimulate children's interest in robotics, the fair displays robot works from the competition and provides visitors a chance to learn about making robots themselves.

This year, five projects representing the top level of the field in China made their way into the final of the robotics entrepreneurship contest. Xiaoshan robot town will provide awards worth 2.4 million yuan ($347,088) for the projects that will develop there.

Xiaoshan robot town is striving to build itself into an international robot industrial base and a demonstration area for smart manufacturing in China. The town has been hosting a series of robot events regularly, which have attracted many teenagers, worldwide experts, and renowned enterprises, in an effort to help boost local industrial development.