The World Robot Contest Championships 2024-Brain-Computer Interface (WRCC 2024-BCI), directed by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), took place in Beijing from August 21 to 25. The event was jointly organized by the Chinese Institute of Electronics, Tsinghua University and NSFC’s Department of Information Sciences. Prof. Wu Dongrui’s teams from the Brain-Computer Interface and Machine Learning Laboratory at HUST’s School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation excelled in all three algorithm-based competitions, securing two grand prizes (national champions) and one first prize.

The World Robot Contest (WRC) has been successfully held 9 times since its inception in 2015, attracting over 300,000 contestants from more than 20 countries. It is widely acclaimed as the “Olympic Games” in the robotics field.

Prof. Wu’s lab focuses on brain-computer interfaces and computational intelligence, contributing research to esteemed journals such as Proceedings of the IEEE, IEEE TPAMI, and National Science Review. Their algorithms have been applied to tech firms like Huawei and Alibaba. Notably, the lab teams won the grand prize (national champion) for two consecutive years in 2021 and 2022, and achieved the national runner-up position in 2023.

A brain-computer interface (BCI) is a direct communication link between the brain and an external device, such as a computer, a robot, etc. BCIs can enhance memory, attention, learning capabilities, and task execution abilities. They can also help individuals with disabilities restore vision, hearing, speech, and motor functions, and play a role in treating brain-related diseases such as epilepsy, depression, and Parkinson’s disease.

Written by: Shi Chenyang

Edited by: Gong Jiarui, Chang Wen, Peng Yumeng