Li Zichen, a fifth grader at a Chinese public school, demonstrates a remote-controlled robot that can lift and move blocks and be programmed using artificial intelligence. John Ruwitch/NPR
John Ruwitch/NPR
In an elementary school classroom in Beijing’s university district, 11-year-old Li Zichen was demonstrating a small robot. It’s a remote-controlled vehicle that lifts and moves blocks and that can be programmed using artificial intelligence. It’s a small project, but it got him thinking big — about the rovers that China sent to Mars and the Moon.
“If a rover comes across a crater in front of it, for instance, it