For the first time in history, global reporters can attend MWC 2021 thanks to 100 Vietnamese robots

Earlier this week, Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2021 took place in the Spanish city of Barcelona. This is one of the first large-scale technology events to be held in Europe since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, this year MWC has a smaller scale than every year, along with strict measures in the prevention of the Covid-19 epidemic. The event also comes as smartphone sales are recovering globally, after falling last year due to the heavy impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The fair takes place in a combination of online and in person, with attendance limited to less than 50,000 people. In addition, many large technology corporations such as Samsung, Nokia, Google and Facebook will not participate in live events as before.

In the context of such a complicated Covid-19 pandemic, the organizers of this MWC came up with an unprecedented solution in history. It is the deployment of 100 robots with artificial intelligence, making it possible for anyone to attend the conference remotely. Most especially, these 100 robots belong to the technology startup of founder Vu Duy Thuc, an influential Vietnamese in Silicon Valley.

Vu Duy Thuc

The inclusion of these 100 robots in the event has created an opportunity for a series of reporters to attend the world’s largest mobile conference in a special period like today. This also marks an important milestone when technology products made by Vietnamese people have been widely applied on a global scale, at international events.

Previously, in 2017, Vu Duy Thuc was honored by Silicon Valley Business Journal as one of the 40 most influential people under the age of 40 in Silicon Valley. Not only stopping at this year’s MWC, Volkswagen recently announced that it has launched a robot capable of custom teleportation called CHAMP.

CHAMP Robots. Photo: Volkswagen

In particular, this product continues to have the cooperation of robotics startup with artificial intelligence OhmniLabs. The CHAMP robot was developed with the aim of increasing accessibility, creating conditions for young people to have the opportunity to step out onto the field with the players of the US national team, especially young people with disabilities.

OhmniLabs as an end-to-end solution provider for this product. Kimberley Gardiner, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Volkswagen Group USA, said: “The CHAMP project together with OhmniLabs brings the best experiences to passionate young fans who have never had before. the opportunity to experience in the stands during matches.”

“This is a new creative trend, the core mission of the company, when it is possible to apply advanced technology and help people have more experiences.”

This cooperation also marks an important step in the Vietnamese robot market. In fact, OhmniLabs that Thuc is the founder and CEO of has produced thousands of robots operating with artificial intelligence (AI) in more than 40 countries around the world.

Although the robot market has existed for a long time, robots are mainly applied in production and manufacturing activities. According to OhmniLabs founder Thuc Vu, robots have not been widely applied in social environments, from home, to hospitals, schools, restaurants or offices.

Before CHAMP, OhmniLabs also had a number of special cooperation projects with a series of large corporations in the world. One of them is the Japanese airline – ANA. In particular, OhmniLabs and ANA research and develop products within only 6 months. OhmniLabs has also produced hundreds of robots for ANA. OhmniLabs’ ANA cooperation robot product was selected for the “Best Product for Society 5.0” award at CEATEC Japan Conference 2019 (CEATEC is Japan’s largest technology and electronics fair similar to CES in the US).

Besides developing robots for ANA Corporation (Japan), OhmniLabs also works for Target – one of the largest retail groups in the US. Target’s direction in the future is to develop robots that can use ultraviolet light to disinfect surfaces in places with a lot of people such as restaurants, cafes, elevators… Infections, bacteria will be destroyed and avoid infectious diseases, not only Covid-19 but also many other contagious diseases.