200: From centimeters to millimeters, the knife technique is flawed.

"Old Cheng, are you here for an inspection? Or do you just want to make a cyberpunk robot for boxing?"

"Are you sure you're not just messing around?"

"Believe it or not, I'll rip your arm off right now and let you experience real cyberpunk for yourself first?"

Cheng Wenfei slapped the table upon hearing this, looking righteous. "Why not?"

"My little star can coordinate the robot's behavioral responses. The future is bright, so why can't it be done?"

"You're the only one holding me back."

"If your robotic arm had been finished sooner, maybe you'd be seeing the Xiao Ai robot competing on stage by now."

Hearing Cheng Wenfei mention "Xiao Ai," Professor Tang stopped bickering and instead stepped forward to pat him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, Old Cheng, that day will come."

"You'll see Xiao Ai swinging its fists at enemies in the ring."

"Let's not talk about that. Has the precision still not broken through to the millimeter level?" Cheng Wenfei ignored Professor Tang's gesture and continued asking.

"Sigh, the precision of soft robotic arms isn't that easy to break through."

As a "veteran" in the field of mechanics, Professor Tang was in charge of rigid-structure robotic arms back at Harbin Institute of Technology.

The difference between soft and rigid robotic arms is like night and day; soft robotic arms are much harder to master in terms of precision and strength than rigid ones.

Moreover, Red Star's solution isn't just designed for unscrewing bottle caps or wiping windows; it's the kind that can actually do real work.

For example, carrying heavy objects and performing precision operations.

This solution involves filling the "muscles and bones" of the robotic arm with flexible materials, combined with intelligent programming, to achieve millimeter-level precision.

That's why Cheng Wenfei from the Artificial Intelligence Lab dropped by whenever he was free.

Now that the intelligent program is ready and the structural filling of the robotic arm is complete...

...the last problem Professor Tang and his team face is how to improve the precision.

"I've experimented many times according to the plan, but it just won't meet the design requirements."

Professor Tang was also a bit discouraged. Where exactly was the problem?

There were clearly ready-made plans and data, yet they just couldn't replicate it.

It's like being given the answer to a math problem, even the steps, and being told to copy it.

But every time you copy the steps onto the exam paper, the result isn't the correct answer.

"Actually, centimeter-level precision isn't much use to me. If a certain person found out, he'd have no problem with you ripping his arm off to install a robotic arm."

"Who?"

"What does he want a soft robotic arm with this level of precision for?" Professor Tang hadn't been at Red Star as long as Cheng Wenfei, so he wasn't familiar with Li Lei.

Additionally, Chen Chen kept this project strictly confidential and strictly forbade Li Lei from approaching it.

"Li Lei—you might not know him—he came to headquarters a few days ago and just hung around my place, pleading with me to develop an intelligent algorithm for his robotic vacuum cleaner."

"What does that have to do with me?" Professor Tang grew even more curious.

"He's always wanted to install visual sensors and robotic arms on the vacuum cleaners."

"He says that way, the robot won't just sweep floors; it'll be able to handle large pieces of trash and help users with other tasks."

"Then Mr. Chen 'fleeces' his team every time. The visual sensor Engineers in our Automotive Engineering Department right now were all transferred from his side by Mr. Chen."

"The young people in charge of this robotic arm project before you arrived were originally developing robotic arms in his vacuum cleaner team, and they were all 'fleeced' by Mr. Chen and borrowed for Red Star."

"Haha, so that's what happened." Professor Tang chuckled and continued, "But it's actually a good idea."

"Robotic vacuums don't have such high precision requirements; I think it's worth a try."

"Do you have Li Lei's contact info? I'll get in touch with him and see if we can try mounting it on a robotic vacuum," Professor Tang asked.

"You'll have to ask Mr. Chen for that. I wouldn't dare give you his contact info; Mr. Chen is practically on high alert against Li Lei."

"Haha, interesting, interesting."

"This is much more interesting than back at the HIT Group. I'll go see Mr. Chen later. If he dares to disagree, I'll rip his arm off and install this robotic arm."

"Fine, fine, go ahead. I'm heading back. Let me know if there's any news; I'm still waiting to box." Cheng Wenfei prepared to leave after speaking.

"Go, go, get out of here. If you don't leave now, I'll keep your arm too." Professor Tang waved him away, telling him to stop being annoying.

"A flexible robotic arm on a robotic vacuum... that really is interesting," Professor Tang muttered to himself while changing clothes.

"Old Tang, are you really going to see Mr. Chen?"

A younger lab member said at this moment.

"I'm telling you, Xie Lihou—based on your surname alone, I'm definitely ripping your arm off."

"Alright, alright, Old Tang. You've been shouting that for days and I haven't seen you actually rip anyone's arm off."

He looked helplessly at his "head disciple." When no one else was around, the atmosphere in the lab was quite cheerful. The reason he had been marginalized at Harbin Institute of Technology was inseparable from his personality.

In any other case, what student would dare call their mentor 'Old Tang'?

"Old Tang, let's focus on studying the cutting technique. Industrialization is the correct use for this kind of robotic arm. Putting it on a vacuum cleaner is neither here nor there; it's not practical at all."

"Sigh."

Professor Tang was helpless; his head disciple was a natural at research but knew absolutely nothing about commercializing research results.

Business needs gimmicks. Regardless of whether it's practical, just ask if it exists on the market.

"No?"

"Well then, I have it!"

"The world's first robotic vacuum with a robotic arm, capable of automatically handling trash."

"Tell me if that's a gimmick or not."

"Is it awesome or what?"

"As for whether it's practical, that's another story."

"What commercial companies want is buzz and hype."

"With that, why worry about not having orders?"

"You guys don't slack off. Once you finish this stage of work, you can take some annual leave. Everyone still has 25 days of leave left this year."

"I'm going to find Mr. Chen to ask about the situation."

He left the lab after speaking... "You guys must never tell anyone outside that you're working on visual sensors. If asked, say you're software development Engineers. Never mention anything about vision."

"And you guys, your ID badges all say 'Structural Engineer.' No one is allowed to say you're working on engineering machinery."

"Remember, no one mentions it except me!" Li Lei said, looking solemnly at the young people in front of him.

He was scared!

He was scared of being 'fleeced'!

Even doing a project had to be done in secret.