In the city of Hefei, China has launched the country's first fully functional robotic metro system, bringing together humanoid robots, robotic dogs and drones into a single network. Unlike standalone solutions, the platform coordinates all devices and distributes tasks between them.
Humanoid robots help passengers navigate stations and find transfers. Robot dogs patrol platforms and monitor safety. Autonomous devices carry out technical inspections: they move under trains through special trenches and check the condition of equipment.
High-resolution cameras and ultrasonic sensors are used for diagnostics and can detect hidden defects, including cracks inside metal. The system records deviations in real time, which significantly speeds up inspections compared with manual checks and also reduces the risk of missing critical damage.
The project combines aerial, ground and underground devices into a single infrastructure. The next step is to create a "single brain" based on more powerful artificial intelligence models. This would allow the system to respond faster to unusual situations and coordinate actions even more precisely.
The Hefei project stands out for its scale and depth of integration. In this sense, it becomes a kind of "living laboratory," where technologies are operating not in a test mode, but in real conditions with full passenger traffic.
