From robots to aircraft, a new generation is providing thrust for innovation, Wang Qian reports.

While most people were stuck at home last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, feeling isolated and maybe even caged in, some young people were thinking outside the box and reached for the sky as they created an impressive array of work, from robots to rockets.

It's difficult to predict what will be the next big thing to materialize from this tech-savvy generation. On videosharing and livestreaming platform Bilibili, it seems that anything is possible. No dream, it seemed, was beyond imagination. At first, they did not know each other but were united by a spirit of creativity.

When Bilibili uploader Lin Xiao, nicknamed Lingshiqi online, had too many bags to carry, instead of asking someone for help, the then 18-year-old spent 200 days addressing the problem. The devil was in the detail you could say. He built a robot, which can follow him wherever he goes, and upon which he can ride. The robot's name? Devil!

Tech influencer Peng Zhihui, whose online handle is Zhihuijun, is already a household name. A 16-minute video clip features the 28-year-old Huawei engineer designing and creating a robotic arm, named Dummy. Powered by Huawei's 5G technology, it can be remotely controlled to do the most precise activity. To prove it, Dummy can even stitch grape skins together.

After hearing that Apple canceled its AirPower wireless charging mat in 2019, uploader He Shijie, known online as Hetongxue, was inspired and invented his own wireless charging desk, which can simultaneously fill the batteries of three devices. The 22-year-old graduate from the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications posted a 7-minute video in October, which has been viewed more than 17 million times.

As if these feats were not astonishing enough, the self-built model rocket launch of another uploader, Liu Shang, may actually push the boundaries to a new horizon.

The aerospace engineering sophomore's 10-minute video, posted last month, shows how Liu, under the username LShang001, built a 4.5-kilogram, 1.1-meter-tall rocket. In the conclusion of the video, viewers see it take off to a height of 300 meters, before deploying a parachute and gently touching back down.

Many internet users comment that such uploaders prove what Liang Qichao (1873-1929), a Chinese scholar, political visionary and reformist, wrote in his essay Shaonian Zhongguo Shuo (On the Young China) in 1900-"Today's responsibility lies with the youth. If the youth are wise, the country will be wise. ... If the youth are strong, the country will be strong."

China Daily interviewed Lin and Liu to get the behind-the-scenes stories, which they both fervently hope will inspire more young people with the imagination and passion to create.

Machine learning

When Lin decided last year to take a gap year, due to the outbreak of the pandemic, before entering the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States, the young man from Shanghai already had a bold idea about how he wanted to spend that time-his decision was to build an "obedient" robot that would follow him wherever he went.

The project took him about nine months to design, 3D-print, assemble and write the 250 lines of code required, according to his 12-minute video, which he posted on Bilibili on July 31. It has gone viral on the platform, racking up about 2.2 million views, and his account has attracted 381,000 followers.

The robot's name comes from the background music Devil's Swing (Remix) for the video game Bendy and the Ink Machine. It resembles a suitcase, which can follow Lin wherever he goes, day or night, and detect obstacles in its path. Besides carrying bags, it can be used for transport and even charges Lin's electronic devices.

"It is the most difficult project that I have done," Lin says. "Although it is not perfect, I hope that my video can inspire my peers to believe 'what you do matters' and that we can make a difference in people's lives."

It was the idea of "influencing more people" like him that was behind his decision to become a Bilibili uploader at the age of 17, he adds.

Lin did everything himself, from designing the robot with 3D modeling, manufacturing the physical parts and programming it, to assembling all the components and electronics.

The robot has a steel structure, a 3D-printed plastic shell and two 2D laser and radar scanners. The brain of the robot is powered by Arduino, an open-source electronics platform, and computing and coding solutions from computer manufacturer Raspberry Pi.

"Building Devil made me realize that the algorithm is the soul for any project of mine," says Lin, who now studies as a freshman at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "And I plan to change my major from electrical engineering to computer science."

Lin admits that Devil is not good enough, particularly in its physical stability and algorithm, but he still wants to present the immature product. He sees Devil as "a toddler who is learning to walk".

Even while filming, Devil stopped working or broke down several times and, every time, Lin would patiently repair it.

Lin's passion for robotics began in his first year at the High School Attached to Shanghai Normal University, when a teacher, surnamed Zhou, discovered his talent for working with computers. Zhou provided full support to advance Lin's skills and took him to various computer science competitions.

"When I found that I could make things move in any way I wanted, the feeling was really amazing, even shocking," Lin recalls.

Coding and robotics have changed his life, Lin adds, and he wants to bring the benefits of technology to a wider audience.

During senior middle school, he developed a smart home system to help physically challenged people to remotely control their home appliances. "It was the first time that I understood how my products could help others," Lin says with pride.

Since September 2019, Lin has uploaded 19 videos to Bilibili, which act as witness to his growth from a senior middle school student to a university freshman.

At the end of the Devil video, the versatile young man played Robotics; Notes on piano and trumpet, the soundtrack of a Japanese "science adventure series" of video games with the same name, which has robotics and augmented reality as its main themes.

For Lin, Devil is just a beginning, and he believes that he and his products will make a difference in the future.

Rocket man

When primary school student Liu Shang in Changde, Hunan province, first saw a rocket launch on television, a seed was planted.

"From that moment, I knew it is exactly what I wanted to do," Liu, now 20, a student from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Jiangsu province, says.

From building water rockets at primary school, drones at junior middle school, to a thrust vector controlled, or TVC, model rocket in college, Liu has realized his dream, step by painstaking step.

He has devoured books and learned technology-driven skills, such as coding and mechanical design, online.

His hit video on Bilibili was posted in August last year. It features a successful launch and recovery of a homemade TVC model rocket. TVC is the ability of an aircraft's propulsion system to manipulate the direction of its thrust to control its attitude or angular velocity.

At about 96 centimeters high and weighing 3.1 kg, the rocket soared to 190 meters and landed safely in a nearby forest after deploying a parachute. The 8-minute video has garnered nearly 2.1 million views and more than 173,000 people followed his Bilibili account.

It took Liu about half a year to design and build the rocket, which he did during his time at home when his school was closed due to COVID-19.

Since posting his first rocket-related video on Bilibili in October 2019, 37 videos have featured him building basic components of the rocket, its various tests and the final takeoff.

"It has been a long journey full of difficulties and challenges," Liu writes in his posts. "The project needs constant learning, exploration and attempts. As long as I keep going, one day I will succeed."

"It is my first TVC rocket with an active attitude control system, which can adjust its attitude in flight. Due to lack of experience and technology, the rocket stability during flight needs to improve," Liu says.

For him, the successful launch has opened a new world and will pave the way to his final goal: to realize a fixed-point landing.

One year later, Liu built another rocket equipped with an upgraded flight control system, which can measure and update real-time rocket data, including speed and location, and send the data back to the ground through a telemetry system. It has four reverse thrusters for deceleration during landing.

"We are working toward autonomy-enabling guidance, navigation and control solutions," Liu says.

In the October video, the new rocket was launched over 300 meters into the sky, but due to a control algorithm issue, there was a problem with the reverse thruster system. An emergency parachute was activated to ensure the rocket landed safely and was recovered.

Liu says that the rocket has been repaired, and he will optimize the algorithm. The next launch is expected to be sometime early next year.

He hopes that one day he can develop a rocket that can fly along a fixed route and realize a soft landing. Before that goal is achieved, Liu will remain creative and keep learning.

His talent has impressed his professor, Zhu Xudong, at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Zhu told China News Service that the university has already arranged professors in related fields to instruct him in rocket building.

Impressed by Liu's efforts, the official account of the Communist Youth League of China has reposted Liu's story on micro-blogging platform Sina Weibo.

"With increasing followers on social media, I realize that what I do can inspire more young people to find their passion and pursue their dream, like when I found mine as a boy," Liu says.