AI used to help preserve China's oldest wooden pagoda

High-tech preservation

In April, a virtual reality program that replicates the pagoda was released by Chinese technology company Lenovo Group and Tsinghua University's School of Architecture.

Wearing VR glasses, visitors can experience what it would be like to climb the pagoda and explore its interior.

The program has been donated to the county government to become a part of its digital museum.

In February last year, the school began conducting modeling work on the wooden structure inside the pagoda, creating a database of parameters through structural research.

Meanwhile, Lenovo Group is utilizing its AI-generated spatial computing technology, which combines AI, neural radiance fields technology and extended reality technology to construct a digital "twin" of the pagoda.

Besides benefiting tourists, the technologies provide strong technical support for re-creating the complete structure and details of the pagoda.

Mao Shijie, vice-president of Lenovo Group and head of Lenovo Research Shanghai, said the project has utilized cutting-edge AIGC technology, enabling the swift digital reconstruction of the pagoda within 10 hours.

"It was a task that would have taken months using traditional methods," he said.

By combining AI algorithms with data collected from drones and radar cameras, the project aims to recreate the pagoda's intricate details accurately, he said.