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Kiwi startup Rocos Global was barely up and running with its platform to make robots move when it caught the attention of China tech giant iFlytek.
The Auckland company had developed a cloud-based platform to operate fleets of autonomous robots: a third-party system for iFlytek and other robot manufacturers to control their robots from anywhere.
China’s president, Xi Jinping, had designated iFlytek one of his national champions to lead the country to international dominance in artificial intelligence (AI), and the NZ$20 billion company was scanning the globe for partnership opportunities.
It signed a multi-year research agreement with prestigious American university MIT in 2018 and a year later was ready to ink a deal with a little-known, two-year-old New Zealand company.
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Walking access on to Franz Josef Glacier was banned in 2012. It is now only accessible by helicopter. Dire new projections for the region’s tourist sector have this week prompted local leaders to plead for government help. From March last year to September this year the region – including Franz Josef, Fox Glacier, Ōkarito, Whataroa, and Lake Moeraki – is projected to lose 84 per cent of its jobs, two-thirds of its businesses and 30 per cent of its population. One of the biggest drawcards for tourists on the West Coast was the ability to get up close to a glacier. Only a few years ago they could either take a short walk to the terminal faces or a guided walking tour directly on to the ice – options that are now impossible due to safety concerns amid melting ice. The glaciers are now only accessible by air, or viewable from a distance.
According to the Department of Conservation, visitor numbers to Milford Sound in September and October 2020 had dropped 72 per cent from the year before. As the “gateway to Milford”, the Fiordland tourism sector had traditionally relied heavily on international tourists and while Kiwis had answered the call to back their backyards, there simply weren’t enough to fill the void. Now that summer was drawing to a close and Kiwis were going back to work, the situation was dire, Adams said. “Te Anau has fallen off the cliff in the last week,” he said. While some businesses were operating at 20 to 60 per cent less than usual over Christmas, Adams said that had dropped to an 85 to 90 per cent drop in revenue in the past week.
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