War of Intelligent Machines

Chapter 27: The Guozhuang Dance

Chapter 27: The Guozhuang Dance

"Mr. Jiang, let me take you to your dormitory first. After you drop off your luggage, we'll go meet the leadership," the accompanying officer said.

"Sure, I'll follow your arrangements."

The officer drove them in a Jeep for about three minutes to a residential area. A sign at the entrance read, "Research Institute Expert Residential Area No. 1."

The neighborhood was filled with two-story standalone villas, lush with vegetation, making the entire area resemble a garden.

When Jiang Hui stepped into the villa assigned to them, she was instantly delighted. The tasteful decor, the layout of the kitchen and living room, and even the bathroom design were all to her liking. The discomfort of altitude sickness and her initial worries about the new environment vanished at the sight of their new home. She had never dreamed that the conditions here would be so good—in some ways, even better than her hometown of Dali.

Based on Jiang Yuesheng's previous work experience, the base's research institute assigned him to the Software Division, Section Two. After speaking with Section Chief Sun, Jiang Yuesheng learned that the research direction of Section Two was closely aligned with his work at the Hong Zhiyuan Research Institute, though the level of research here was more advanced.

One day, while Jiang Yuesheng was reviewing materials, Section Chief Sun called him into a meeting room.

"Yuesheng, are you familiar with robotic motion modules?"

"Somewhat. I worked on improving the motion module for a police robot before," he replied, recalling his achievements in the programming competition at the Hong Zhiyuan Research Center.

"Here's the situation. The Submersible Division has a project that's short on personnel. They need someone who understands robotic motion module programming, and I thought of you."

"I'm fine with whatever you decide. I don't have any specific tasks right now, so it would be good to broaden my horizons."

...

The next day, Jiang Yuesheng reported to the Submersible Division. Section Chief Duan of Section Three took him directly to the project laboratory.

At first glance, the lab resembled a swimming pool. On the right side were two large square water tanks, each about twenty square meters, with what appeared to be submersibles undergoing testing. There were also three transparent tanks on the ground, one of which contained a massive fish nearly three meters long.

Jiang Yuesheng looked closer and realized the fish's body was transparent, with some equipment inside its belly.

Section Chief Duan led Jiang Yuesheng to the tank and pointed at the fish. "Engineer Jiang, we need your help to improve its motion module."

"Ah, I see..." Jiang Yuesheng was immediately captivated. He had never seen a robotic fish before and was fascinated. It was unexpected to find naval research being conducted in such a remote desert.

"This is a simulated fish submersible, part of a series for reconnaissance and torpedo applications. This is one of the smaller models in the reconnaissance series."

Jiang Yuesheng wondered how large the bigger models might be.

Section Chief Duan continued, "The problem we need to solve is increasing its speed. A similar model in Europe has reached seventy knots, while ours can't exceed fifty-five."

"After repeated research and improvements, we've matched or surpassed our competitors in terms of power, design, and surface resistance, but the speed still won't increase. We suspect the issue lies in the motion pattern."

"I see..." Jiang Yuesheng nodded as he listened.

"To solve this, we've brought in many experts, but so far, there's been no progress."

Section Chief Duan then took Jiang Yuesheng to an adjacent room and pointed to a terminal on the desk. "You can access relevant materials here, but you can't take them out."

After helping Jiang Yuesheng complete facial recognition authentication for the terminal, Section Chief Duan added, "We don't have strict working hours here. You can manage your own time. If you need anything, just let me know. I'm usually around."

Next, Section Chief Duan took Jiang Yuesheng to another lab.

"This is the water tunnel lab."

"Water tunnel?" Jiang Yuesheng had only heard of wind tunnels before.

"You've heard of wind tunnels, right?"

"Yes."

"Wind tunnels are used for airflow experiments on aircraft, while water tunnels are for hydrodynamic experiments on vessels."

"Ah..." Jiang Yuesheng glanced around, noticing pipes of various sizes, clearly used for water flow experiments.

"We've conducted many water tunnel experiments here, and the reports are available on the terminal."

Jiang Yuesheng was instantly captivated by the lab. This was the kind of work environment he loved—real equipment, experimental setups, and access to data.

"This is amazing!" he couldn't help but exclaim.

Jiang Yuesheng decided that since the issue was with the motion pattern, he should start by reviewing the results of previous water tunnel experiments. He accessed the terminal and pulled up the reports.

To his astonishment, the lab had conducted over 1,200 water tunnel experiments, with the earliest dating back more than thirty years—before he was even born. It seemed that simulated fish submersibles had been in secret development for a long time, unbeknownst to the public.

He reviewed some recent experiments but found them nearly incomprehensible. The reports were filled with fluid dynamics parameters—vortex flow, adhesion coefficients, cavitation—all of which might as well have been written in a foreign language.

"How can I help if I can't even understand the materials? Why did Section Chief Sun send me here? Am I just causing trouble?"

Feeling disheartened, Jiang Yuesheng left the lab and returned home. He began to doubt whether he could handle the task, as it seemed to require knowledge far beyond his current understanding. He opened his computer and searched for information on fluid dynamics, but it was still too difficult to grasp.

He realized that to understand fluid dynamics, he needed to learn calculus and basic physics. He found some calculus textbooks and felt the initial chapters weren't too hard, but when he reached derivatives, he started to feel overwhelmed.

"Mom, I think I'm about to hit a wall," Jiang Yuesheng confessed during a call with his mother, venting about his struggles with calculus. "Calculus is just too hard. My brain feels like it's shutting down."

Seeing her son's frustration, Jiang Yu couldn't help but laugh. She remembered her own struggles with self-studying calculus and how a video tutorial called *Intuitive Calculus* had helped her. The tutorial visually explained the principles of calculus, making it much easier to grasp, even if it wasn't deeply technical.

Jiang Yu recommended *Intuitive Calculus* to her son, hoping it would help him as it had helped her.

Jiang Yuesheng found *Intuitive Calculus* online and watched a few chapters. Suddenly, everything clicked. Within a week, he had a basic understanding of calculus, enough to make sense of some of the formulas in the fluid dynamics books.

After two more weeks of intense study, Jiang Yuesheng finally understood the water tunnel experiment reports. The more he read, the more he admired the groundbreaking work of his predecessors, who had designed and analyzed countless experiments.

"So, where exactly is the problem?"

In the northwest corner of the base, there was a small aquarium. Jiang Yuesheng became a frequent visitor, often spending entire days there, staring at the fish as ideas popped into his head, only to be dismissed one after another.

"Where is the problem?"

One evening, feeling particularly frustrated, he wandered aimlessly and stumbled upon a Tibetan residential area within the base. A group of Tibetans were dancing the Guozhuang dance in a circle.

Curious, he approached and was immediately captivated by the elegant dance. The dancers moved their arms with grace and ease, like a flock of geese soaring through the sky. Their light, rhythmic steps carried their bodies in a flowing motion, creating a mesmerizing spectacle.

He thought it was the most beautiful dance he had ever seen, performed by ordinary people.

As he watched, entranced, the rhythm of the music changed, and the dancers' formation shifted. They began to move in a circle, stepping forward and backward in a pattern reminiscent of the Yunnan folk dance. The rhythmic pauses in their movements were striking, and Jiang Yuesheng felt an urge to join in. However, he noticed that the steps he had learned as a child didn't quite match the rhythm of the Tibetan dance, so he held back.

For some reason, the image of the fish in the aquarium came to his mind. He recalled how fish sometimes swam in a rhythm similar to the dance.

Forward, backward, pause; forward, backward, pause...

"Is it a rhythm issue?"

He suddenly thought of the simulated fish submersible. To avoid the noise of propellers, it used a fish-like tail motion for propulsion. But the fish he observed didn't continuously swing their tails like the submersible did. Instead, they moved in bursts, pausing intermittently—just like the Guozhuang dance.

"Fish must sense something that the submersible doesn't, adjusting their rhythm accordingly!"

At this realization, Jiang Yuesheng's heart raced, and his face flushed with excitement.

"What do fish sense? Why do their tails move in bursts?"

"Is this the key to the problem?"

Lost in thought, Jiang Yuesheng wandered back home. That night, he couldn't sleep, his mind buzzing with excitement.

He had been ready to resign from the project, but now he saw a glimmer of hope.

He consulted some books on fish biology and discovered that fish have highly sensitive receptors for detecting water flow. These receptors allow fish to adjust their swimming posture in response to subtle changes in the water, enabling them to move efficiently with minimal energy expenditure.

Humans, as land-dwelling creatures, struggle to coordinate their bodies in water as effectively as fish. Despite exerting significant effort, their swimming efficiency is low.

This might explain why the simulated fish submersible, despite having ample power, couldn't achieve higher speeds.

Jiang Yuesheng outlined his thoughts, focusing on three main areas:

1. **Enhance the sensitivity and quantity of water flow sensors on the submersible's surface** to improve its ability to detect subtle changes in water flow.

2. **Refine the water flow modeling system** to create a more detailed and accurate model.

3. **Link the submersible's tail motion to the water flow model**, allowing it to adjust its posture in real-time based on changes in water flow.

In other words, he wanted the submersible to mimic the way fish adjust their movements in response to water flow.

He began gathering relevant materials and soon developed a proposal, which he submitted to Section Chief Duan.

Initially, Section Chief Duan had expected Jiang Yuesheng to withdraw from the project, as four months had passed without any significant progress. But after reviewing Jiang Yuesheng's proposal, he felt a renewed sense of hope.

The proposal was well-reasoned and detailed. After reporting to his superiors, Section Chief Duan decided to mobilize the entire section to tackle the project based on Jiang Yuesheng's plan.

He distributed the proposal to all team members and organized extensive discussions. After two weeks of deliberation, they finalized a practical work plan and began the refers to a focused, intensive effort to solve a critical problem.

However, the challenges of enhancing water flow sensitivity caused repeated delays. It took a year and a half to achieve the intended goals.

At the project is a review or acceptance meeting, the simulated fish submersible achieved an impressive speed of eighty-two knots, far surpassing similar products from other countries.

After completing the project, Jiang Yuesheng returned to Section Two of the Software Division. He was promptly promoted to researcher and received a two-level salary increase.