Award of Excellence
Hwee Young How 
European Pressphoto Agency

"ROBOTIC HOPES"

Chinese self-taught farmer-turned-inventor Tao Xiangli shares a moment with his self-made robot 'King of Innovation' in his home in Beijing, China, 12 August 2013. Mainly made of scrap materials, the humanoid robot was built in about a year with costs of production and living expenses amounting to 300,000RMB (36,809 euros). At a height of 2.1 metres and weight of 250kg, the robot took up nearly a third of the space of Tao's tiny home in a back street alley of Beijing. It could be operated with remote controls and even has a built-in motion sensor to detect motion. The 35-year-old farmer turned self-taught inventor came from a poor farming family from Anhui Province and had to drop out of school at primary five as his family could not afford the fees. Tao had a fierce passion for inventing however and taught himself by taking apart various machinery. He came to Beijing at the age of 16, taking on odd jobs before making headlines in 2008 with his homemade submarine, which he eventually sold to an artist for 100,000RMB (12,264 euros). Tao's hopes and dreams are all vested in the robot which has taken up all his savings and time. He hopes to attract investors to invest in his inventions of which he hold several patents but lack the funds to bring them to fruition.