Qingdao Port achieves fully unmanned operation of a container ship

https://japanese.cri.cn/2026/02/21/ARTI1771656131487329

The “Zhifei,” China’s first commercially operational smart container ship, accurately docked at a berth at the automated wharf in Qingdao Port, using unmanned autonomous navigation mode. This marks the first time that China has achieved an unmanned operation of a container ship, including navigation, berthing, and operation.

After the “Zhifei” container ship arrived at its designated location, the vacuum suction cups installed in its vacuum automatic mooring system powerfully attracted the hull, firmly securing it to the berth in less than 30 seconds, without any manual mooring work. The terminal’s fully automated loading and unloading equipment then operated simultaneously, and China’s A-TOS (Atelier Terminal Smart Management System) and A-ECS (Analytical Equipment Control System) worked together to precisely coordinate equipment such as automated cranes and automated guided vehicles at millisecond speeds, completing the container loading and unloading process.

The Zhifei is equipped with smart navigation core system, and as China’s first smart cargo ship for commercial operation, it features three navigation modes: manned, remotely controlled, and unmanned autonomous navigation.

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Single-cell ramanomics improve quality control in P34HB biopolymer industrial fermentation

http://english.cas.cn/newsroom/research-news/202604/t20260423_1157877.shtml

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.03.017

A team led by the CAS Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) has developed a new “process ramanomics” platform. This technology enables real-time, data-driven control of biomanufacturing.

The researchers validated their approach in polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) fermentation, a key route for biodegradable polyesters used in packaging and medical materials. Powered by machine learning, the platform achieved 99.75% accuracy in distinguishing PHB-producing cells from P34HB-producing ones, and quantified total PHA content and monomer composition at the single-cell level with a median absolute deviation below 3.8%, comparable to traditional gas chromatography.

In a pivotal 5,000-liter industrial fermenter trial, traditional offline testing pointed to harvesting at 28 hours when PHA content registered 66.32%. Process ramanomics, however, revealed a compositional shift invisible to conventional methods: the 4HB monomer ratio was 8.67% at 26 hours (within specification) but climbed to 11.28% by 28 hours, exceeding the compliance limit, demonstrating that earlier termination could safeguard product quality.

The platform’s single-cell resolution also showed that the content of intracellular PHA can vary by more than threefold among individual cells. At 26 hours, population heterogeneity was lowest, with 91.54% of cells producing at high levels and a 4HB composition that was within specification. This confirmed that 26 hours was the optimal harvest window.

The scientists further showed that process ramanomics can be applied to different chassis organisms and products. For example, it can be used for protein synthesis in yeast and lipid synthesis in Rhodococcus. This suggests that process ramanomics could serve as a general-purpose analytics engine for next-generation intelligent bioreactors.

A humanoid robot training center in Qingdao improves robot efficiency

https://en.people.cn/n3/2026/0324/c90000-20439477.html

At the Qingdao Humanoid Robot Data Training Center in Laoshan District of Qingdao, humanoid robots are trained for jobs such as intelligent industrial manufacturing, smart home, and commercial services. Data collectors here control robots to complete specific tasks like logistics sorting, supermarket restocking, kitchen operations, and component assembly. Through thousands of repetitions and trials, massive amounts of motion data are generated, endowing robots with a smarter “intelligent brain,” and helping humanoid robots enter all walks of life to serve thousands of households.

RamEx: high-throughput microbial ramanome analyses with accurate quality assessment

https://www.cas.cn/syky/202602/t20260226_5102870.shtml

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-026-02339-3

A research team at the CAS Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology has developed RamEx, an integrated analysis framework for Ramanome big data. This platform, tailored to the characteristics of Raman spectroscopy data, establishes a one-stop workflow from data reading and standardized preprocessing to downstream data mining, centered on automated quality control algorithms and efficient parallel computing processes. It also demonstrates a systematic analysis of microbial metabolomical heterogeneity and metabolic pattern differentiation at the single-cell level.

Raman genomics deep analysis can track the dynamic changes in the composition of macromolecules such as lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids in different cells, thus revealing the differentiation and succession patterns of microbial metabolic states at the population scale with single-cell precision. This provides new research ideas and technical pathways for understanding the functional organization and environmental adaptation mechanisms of complex communities.

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