CHONGQING, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Jiang Songning, 22, thought he would never play the piano again after he had his right forearm amputated five years ago. However, thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) technology, his ten fingers can dance across the keys again.

At the 2025 World Smart Industry Expo that was recently held in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Jiang played the piano in front of an audience, wearing a bionic hand developed by the technology firm BrainCo. He noted that the bionic hand is almost as flexible as his left hand -- with each finger able to move freely.

"The bionic hand integrates brain-computer interface technology and AI algorithms," said Jiang, adding that the hand can recognize the wearer's movement intention by detecting the wearer's neural and muscular electrical signals, and convert such intention into action.

"While conventional prosthetics can only perform certain specific motions, and some even merely serve as decoration -- this bionic hand can move as the user wants. It can perform 80 percent of the functions of a normal hand," said Pan Siyu, public relations manager of BrainCo, adding that it takes only about a week for a new user to get used to the bionic hand.

Notably, Pan said BrainCo aims to make its products accessible to more people with disabilities. The price of the bionic hand is only one-fifth that of similar products from abroad.

The 2025 World Smart Industry Expo focused on how AI empowers industries and daily lives. The warmth of such technology is palpable. Many enterprises are exploring the use of advanced technologies to improve the well-being of people with disabilities

A man from central China's Henan Province, who asked not to be named, suffers from muscle atrophy and was not able to walk. He went to the expo in Chongqing as he had heard there were some types of smart equipment there that could possibly help him to walk again. He found an exoskeleton product developed by Guangzhou Shipeng Technology Co., Ltd -- and after just about half an hour of training, he was able to walk slowly.

"Whenever I want to walk, a force kicks in to help me with the motion," the man revealed.

"The exoskeleton is powered by intelligent algorithms. It has multiple built-in sensors that accurately read users' movement intentions and provide appropriate leg-lifting assistance," said Xu Guo, a sales consultant with Shipeng.

He explained that the product, equipped with the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and IoT system, allows for trajectory tracking and emergency calls -- thereby keeping family members of users informed about their whereabouts and conditions.

This exoskeleton not only helps people with disabilities, but is also suitable for scenarios such as long-distance walking and mountain climbing. It is currently widely used in fields including emergency rescue, forest firefighting, industrial logistics and so forth. It can significantly enhance the wearer's load-bearing capacity and endurance, effectively reducing muscle fatigue during long-distance walking.

Chongqing Wujie-Qihang Technology Co., Ltd, meanwhile, introduced a Braille dot display at the expo. It is able to use an AI algorithm to translate text, images and complex graphics into touchable Braille.

"During our survey, we found that visually impaired people had very limited reading resources. Traditional Braille displays rely on users downloading fixed-format internet resources themselves. But with our algorithm, users can upload content they want to read to the server, which is then converted into Braille -- expanding reading resources for visually impaired people," said Li Cheng, founder of the company.

"Previously, apart from a monthly magazine for visually impaired people, I had almost nothing else to read. This device can convert Chinese into tactile Braille, greatly enriching my reading resources," said Wei Xuchuan, a visually impaired man from Chongqing.

He also said that while Braille books are usually very thick, heavy and inconvenient to carry, this Braille display weighs less than 500 grams.

At the expo, over 600 companies introduced more than 3,000 smart products, reflecting how deeply smart technologies are intertwined with all aspects of daily life.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China's AI industry has experienced rapid growth in recent years -- with the number of AI enterprises exceeding 5,000. ■