Free Web NovelChapter 130: Chapter 123 Yutu Robot Team
Noon, Capital International Airport.
The flight that Zhao Yi was on arrived on time. He got off the airplane and followed the crowd out of the airport, and then saw a sign saying ’Welcome, Zhao Yi’.
The person who came to pick him up was a young man wearing glasses named Xu Chao, who looked like he was under thirty and had a scholarly air about him. It turns out he was a Ph.D. student.
"I just came from Xiamen and work in the school’s Intelligent and Automatic Laboratory."
"Professor Luo told me to come pick you up."
"Zhao Yi, your ’sieve method’ is really powerful. I carefully studied your paper and there are some parts that I simply do not understand. Are you really a high school student?"
Xu Chao closed the car door with a bitter smile and said, "After reading your paper, I feel like I’ve been reading in vain."
Zhao Yi just laughed.
Along the way, Xu Chao kept talking about the sieve method and asked a few related questions.
Zhao Yi ambiguously explained a bit, fearing that Xu Chao would think too deeply and it might lead to traffic safety issues. He quickly turned the topic towards Xu Chao’s work.
Xu Chao started talking about the Intelligent and Automatic Laboratory.
The Intelligent and Automatic Laboratory at Yanhua University was formed by merging the school’s Machine Perception Laboratory and Xiamen’s Internet of Things Engineering Laboratory. As it was a merge of two key labs, it received attention from both the school and the region.
The Intelligent and Automatic Laboratory mainly focused on fields like machine perception and intelligent dynamic image recognition.
"Our latest research is on computer feature recognition and color recognition, which is a high-end project in our country." Xu Chao explained clearly, worried that Zhao Yi might not understand.
Zhao Yi was interested and listened intently.
Computer feature recognition and color recognition may not sound that impressive, but they are actually very complex.
For example, color recognition.
Forget about the dynamic images captured by the camera, even recognizing the color of a fixed image is complicated.
This is entirely different from how computers ’draw’.
When computers ’draw’, they follow instructions, retrieve relevant color codes from within, and display them on the screen. Recognizing colors first requires input.
The complexity of the input from the colors in a photographed image is far more difficult than recognizing text in the image.
This leads to the topic of computer graphics.
Graphics is a key area in computer science and is very important for the development of computers. Robot intelligence requires ’dynamic image input’, which can’t bypass the field of graphics.
It’s like human eyes, which can discern what they see. Without eyesight, relying only on touch and hearing would greatly impact our lives.
The two talked all the way.
Xu Chao took Zhao Yi to a hotel near Yanhua University. After completing the check-in procedures, he left Zhao Yi his phone number in case Zhao Yi needed to reach him.
Zhao Yi took a taxi to his first destination: Universe Interactive Technology Co., Ltd.
Universe Interactive Technology was located in the technology park in the northern part of the city, about ten kilometers from Yanhua University. The distance was neither far nor near, and luckily the traffic in the city is not like that in ten years later, and it was smooth sailing outside of rush hour.
Zhao Yi called Zhang Zhen in advance but didn’t see him when he arrived at the company building, so he just walked straight to the front desk.
The receptionist at the front desk was very cute. Seeing that Zhao Yi was young, she asked with a smile, "Hello, welcome to Universe Interactive Technology...are you here for a job interview?" She paused and glanced at the form in her hand, "The interview for the technology department is scheduled for tomorrow."
"That’s fine." Zhao Yi observed the receptionist and walked closer to her, laughing, "I’m wondering if your company is hiring for any other positions?"
"What position?"
Zhao Yi asked seriously, "Do you have any openings for the admirer of the front desk beauty?"
"You!"
The receptionist blushed and burst into laughter, sizing up Zhao Yi from head to toe.
[Flirt, target: Wang Qian, Study Coin +1.]
"Zhao Yi!"
A voice called out from nearby.
A middle-aged man with a beard hurried over and shook Zhao Yi’s hand enthusiastically, "Welcome! Welcome! We are so pleased to have you here! My apologies for the late greeting, I had a few things to sort out."
It was Zhang Zhen.
Wang Qian asked confusedly, "Manager Zhang, who is this?"
"A distinguished guest! This is a distinguished guest! The designer of the Magic Cube Calculator, a genius high school student! His paper..." Zhang Zhen kept giving Zhao Yi a bunch of titles, then enthusiastically led him inside.
Zhao Yi looked back at Wang Qian over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows.
Wang Qian burst into laughter, covering her face with her hands.
[Flirt, target: Wang Qian, Study Coin +2.]
"That actually worked?"
"Just now it was one Study Coin, now it’s two... it seems that status and position are indeed helpful for flirting."
Zhao Yi summarized and followed Zhang Zhen into the reception room.
He sat there for quite some time.
Zhang Zhen kept rushing about, seemingly unable to stop. From far away, Zhao Yi heard several angry curses. Later, another technician was called in. He brought Zhao Yi a cup of coffee.
More than an hour later, Zhao Yi saw Zhang Zhen again.
There was also a young man with very short hair accompanying Zhang Zhen. The young man was very young and looked like he had just graduated from university in his early twenties.
After apologizing several times, Zhang Zhen introduced the young man, "This is Yuan Zhongchen, the most outstanding young man in our technology department."
Zhao Yi began to regard him even more highly.
Such a young man being described by Zhang Zhen as the ’most outstanding in the Tech Department’ definitely implies highly exceptional technical skills.
The two shook hands.
Zhang Zhen, panting, sat down and began to share about recent events, "I’m so sorry, our company had a serious issue these past two days. The management decided to terminate our robot operating system project."
"Why?"
"Funding issues."
Zhang Zhen started to detail the problem.
Initially, the company planned to invest money in developing a complete robot operating system. However, once the actual development phase began, it seemed like a bottomless pit with no visible results.
Developing an operating system isn’t easy. Even a basic one for robots would take years to develop. Millions have already been spent enriching the algorithm library alone, not to mention the substantial technical staff involved.
Such investments might not yield any returns.
Even if the robot operating system was successfully developed, the next step would still be to design related intelligent products.
That’s the paradox.
Skipping the robot operating system would only make the coding and maintenance slightly complex. However, it is much easier than developing a complete operating system, and it guarantees returns since direct product development easily attracts investors.
So on and so forth.
After considering multiple factors, the top management decided to terminate the development of the robot operating system.
Obviously, it upset some people.
Zhang Zhen supported the robot operating system development. As the manager of the tech department, he was disgruntled with the decision. Other supporters like Yuan Zhongchen and several others in tech department were also deeply dissatisfied, even threatening to quit.
After two days of dispute, the company decided to allow them to branch off independently.
Having listened for a while, Zhao Yi summarized, "So, does that mean you guys are no longer part of Universe Interactive?"
"I still am." Zhang Zhen responded, "I’m the manager; I can’t just quit. Some people within the company also support system development, since so much has already been invested. The final decision was to form an independent team, collaborate with the company, use their internal resources and research results, but we must secure our own additional investment."
Pointing to Yuan Zhongchen, he continued, "Zhongchen is the person in charge of the Yutu Robot team."
"Yutu Robot?" Zhao Yi frowned.
Yuan Zhongchen chuckled awkwardly, "I named it. Yutu stands for the Universe and grand plans, representing our certain success!"
Zhao Yi wasn’t pondering over this, but associating ’Yutu’ and ’Yuan Zhongchen’ triggered a sudden surge of memories in his mind.
Yutu Robot!
Yuan Zhongchen!
Isn’t this the team and founder which sold the robot operating system nationwide, even worldwide?
A star-studded team!
What a celebrity!
Zhao Yi suppressed his surprise and followed Zhang Zhen into the small building on the furthest left.
It had become Yutu Robot team’s office.
Universe Interactive’s top management are not fools. They couldn’t completely drive away the robotics team; the team members are incredibly capable. The executives merely decided not to increase further investment. The robotics team could still utilize the company’s resources, while Universe Interactive retained a certain percentage of shares in the team. freewebnσvel.cøm
It was purely a collaboration.
The Yutu Robot team was just freshly formed, would only a mere five members, including the team leader, Yuan Zhongchen. Zhang Zhen continued working with Universe Interactive’s tech department and could be counted as a semi-member at most.
Zhao Yi entered the small office.
Zhang Zhen took the initiative to discuss the issue of developing a robotic operating system.
"Do you think there will be returns from developing a robotic operating system?" As soon as Zhang Zhen started speaking, everyone in the room focused their attention on him.
They are equally baffled.
If the company were to invest together in the development process, whether there is a return or not wouldn’t matter, they would simply work for their salaries.
But now circumstances are different.
They had made up their minds to form an independent studio in collaboration with the company. If they can’t attract investment, they would not be receiving wages, and any absence of returns in the future would mean their efforts are all in vain.
Everyone in the office, including Yuan Zhongchen, was enveloped in uncertainty.
"Of course, there will be returns." Zhao Yi confidently stated, "The underlying operating system is most crucial. Take Microsoft as an example, the main returns from developing their operating system come from system sales and providing technical support!"
"The future will be an era filled with intelligence, encompassing areas like education, healthcare, social networking, services and more – everyone will have a demand for intelligence. Imagine, if the intelligent system in each field uses your operating system, what kind of prospect would that be?"
Everyone listened with glowing eyes.
Zhang Zhen immediately applauded vigorously, simultaneously exclaiming, "Well said." The others quickly joined in the applause.
As the applause subsided.
Zhang Zhen leaned in, smiling as he asked, "Zhao Yi, since you’re so optimistic about the robot operating system, are you interested... in investing? Don’t worry, we won’t let you lose out. As long as you invest two million, we can offer you..."
He glanced at Yuan Zhongchen, who gritted his teeth and said, "Twenty percent of the shares!"
Zhao Yi’s mouth fell open. He was genuinely shocked.
Could there be... such a good thing?
