On the frostbitten slopes of Niuji Mountain in central China's Hubei Province, an innovative defense force wages war against nature's fury. As temperatures plunged to record lows this week, threatening to snap critical power cables with ice accumulations up to 15mm thick, state grid operators unveiled their secret weapons: a 200kg Python all-terrain crawler and nimble flight robots conducting precision de-icing operations.
The 800-kilovolt Shan-Wu transmission line, vital for channeling electricity from energy-rich northern regions to southern industrial hubs, has been safeguarded through this hybrid human-robot strategy. "Our Python crawler climbs ice-coated towers like a mechanical mountaineer," explained site supervisor Zhang Wei. "Meanwhile, the flight robots perform aerial ballet – melting ice with targeted infrared beams while avoiding live wires."
This technological intervention comes as China accelerates its "New Infrastructure" initiative, with over $14 billion allocated this year alone for smart grid upgrades. The successful defense of this energy artery prevents potential blackouts affecting 8 million residents and maintains stable power supply to manufacturing centers in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
