Chinese tech start-up turns camping tent movable smart home

Source: Xinhua

BEIJING, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Remember the Hab where Mark Wartney stays in "The Martian"? Similarly, a Chinese tech start-up has designed a homey, compact tent with basic supplies for camp lovers who are sick of sleeping in the wild with no electricity or toilet.

The first order of the tent, designed by the Beijing-based AUVIDesign, was delivered to North America in April, and the company is confident in the emerging camp industry in China, where about 2,000 camp sites are under construction, according to Ge Jianlong, co-founder of the start-up.

The tent is equipped with power supply, water disposal and purification system, a bathroom, and even shower facility.

Equipped with solar panels and a wind turbine, the movable home is independent from the public grid. Water, fetched nearby, can be purified into safe drinking water, while waste water inside the tent can be recycled, thus a close Eco-circle without emission or interference into the environment.

All the supporting system can be monitored and managed on smart phones or tablets, so that ordinary campers can operate without professional technicians, said Jiang Hong, co-founder of AUVIDesign.

Intended for camp sites and activity venues, the 3.5-meter high canvas room has an area of 25 square meters. Once packed, the whole tent, including internal furniture, accessories and equipment, fits into an ordinary minivan. To build up the tent, it takes three hours by four persons with hand tools.

"We did draw some inspiration from the Hab in 'The Martian'," said Jiang, "We want to create not only a shelter for the campers in the tough environments but also a comfortable home for the tired travelers after a day's travel."

Camping is gaining popularity among Chinese travelers, said Ge.

In northwest China's Gansu Province, for example, which boasts magnificent landscapes such as desert, forest and glaciers and world cultural heritage sites such as Mogao Grottos and part of the Great Wall, about 200 RV campsites will be built within three years, according to local authorities.

"We believe China's camp industry will grow rapidly in a few years as more and more tourists seek new travel ways like self-guided tours, road trips and in-depth tours," said Ge.

To meet the potential demands, the team are developing a new version intended for family field trips, which will be much lighter, smaller, more portable and less expensive.

China is the world's largest tourism market. According to the China National Tourism Administration, the number of tourists traveling domestically in 2015 reached 4.1 billion.