{主关键词}

A | CHESTER, Pa. -- The Eagles and the NFL might still be the sports favorites at Calvary Baptist Church, just outside Philadelphia. But many here are also rooting for a neighboring team which last year reached the championship game of Major League Soccer.Their new-found fandom is all about location — and revenue from parking. The Philadelphia Union plays at Subaru Park, a stadium beside the Delaware River just a few blocks from Calvary in the economically challenged city of Chester. Its poverty rate is among the highest in the metro area.As the Union continues to attract loyal fans and reach new heights, so have the blessings bestowed on this historic church where Martin Luther King Jr. attended as a seminarian.It has been crucial. Like many other Black Protestant churches, Calvary Baptist struggled financially during the coronavirus pandemic. Attendance fell, and along with it, funding. But the church has transformed its parking lot to accommodate game-day fundraisers, with volunteers from the congregation staffing the lots and selling spaces for $15 per vehicle.These days, the church raises up to $3,000 per game — about half of what goes into the collection plate on Sundays, said its pastor, Keith Dickens. The welcome influx of extra money is being used to pay for utilities, ministries and a new speaker system that will allow Calvary to reach a broader audience by broadcasting its services online.“It’s been a blessing,” said Dickens, who on a recent game day proudly sported a Philadelphia Union hat. "Not only just to generate funding, but also to meet and minister to new people.”Across the nation, houses of worship located near stadiums — from Boston’s Fenway Park to the Green Bay Packers’ Lambeau Field — have opened their parking lots to legions of fans.For churches offering parking near pro-soccer stadiums, their coffers recently received an assist from the world’s best active player, Lionel Messi who joined an MLS roster this year. All 250 parking spaces at the Calvary lot were full when Messi’s Inter Miami played the Union.Jeffrey Scholes, co-author of “Religion and Sports in American Culture,” said churches like Calvary show a growing willingness to use “secular entities like sport for religious purposes” including, “continuing a ministry, feeding the poor, keeping the lights on, things that ideally churches do."In the past, Scholes said clergy might have preferred the “old-fashioned way” of getting churchgoers to donate while shunning the sports-fan parking business as too “worldly."“There’s just much more openness to different kinds of nonreligious tactics to perform the necessary functions of a church or synagogue or mosque,” Scholes said. It also offers an opportunity to share with fans the history of congregations like Calvary, which was founded in 1879 by a group of formerly enslaved Africans seeking freedom to worship.On a recent game day, fans decked in the Union's navy, signal blue and gold colors pulled into parking spots in front of Calvary's colorful mural that pays homage to King. The civil rights leader worshipped at the church from 1948-1951, when he attended Chester’s Crozer Theological Seminary. Chester has a notable cultural and industrial history, but now has economic difficulties that make Calvary's new parking revenue all the more appreciated.“For us, if it gives back to a cause, it makes it all the better,” Abe Gitterman, age 37 and Jewish, said before he paid the parking fee. Next to him, his 6-and 7-year-old sons pointed to the mural and asked parking attendant and church member Lisa Lewis if this was the same man they had learned about in school. “Yes,” she replied, smiling. “It feels good,” she later said, “to tell them the history about the church.”It can also be fun. In Lubbock, Texas, Leslie Cranford, a parishioner at St. John’s United Methodist Church, said Texas Tech football fans have tailgated with RVs — taking up to four spots ($10 each) — in the church parking lot, near the Red Raiders' Jones AT&T Stadium. Sometimes, rival fans park at the church. “We tell them: we got to charge you extra!” Cranford said, laughing. She introduced the parking program at her congregation two decades ago. On a good season, they make up to $2,000 per game. “Dwindling attendance is a problem," Cranford said. "So, this helps us maintain our ministries.” In Boston, the Christian Science Church opened its parking garage to the public in 2014. That includes Red Sox fans who can park for $30 — a lower rate than closer to Fenway Park. Kevin Ness, manager of the Christian Science Committees on Publication, said the revenue helps cover the operating expenses of Christian Science Plaza, a popular tourist attraction which sits on top of the garage in the Fenway neighborhood. “This in turn allows the contributions from members to directly support the worldwide healing mission of the church,” he said. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, Bethany Church began its Packers parking program in 2010.“We thought it would be a great avenue for outreach, and a way to get funds to help support the growing ministries,” Bethany’s administrative assistant, Jill Connerym said via email. The church doesn’t have a set charge, and instead asks for donation, Connery said, adding that “many people are very generous.”Packers parking helps fund programs, including youth ministries, small group learning and building facility upgrades, Connery said. The church parking lot is often full on game days.“We are known for our hospitality,” she said. “We had a volunteer who began giving rides to Lambeau from our parking lot, free of charge to whoever didn’t want to walk the .5 miles to the stadium. So, now we are known for our shuttle service, and friendly volunteers.”Churches also have embraced other fans. Nashville First Church of the Nazarene offered their parking lots for three shows attended by thousands at nearby Nissan Stadium during the Nashville leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. The parking program ($30 a spot) also is popular during Tennessee Titans games and has helped fund ministries in Nashville and missions in Haiti and Kenya.“Every one of these dollars comes right back in to help people,” said its senior pastor, Kevin Ulmet. “When people hear that, they love that, they say ‘we want to be a part of that.’ And that, to me, is the classic definition of win-win.”__Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.。 8月19日,主题为“人机共生 产需共融”的2026世界机器人大会在北京开幕。大会由中国电子学会、世界机器人合作组织共同主办。记者 任超 摄 8月19日,2026世界机器人大会在京开幕。

B | 《经济参考报》记者从大会获悉,2025年机器人产业规模以上企业营业收入突破3000亿元,近5年年均增速超20%;今年上半年达到1655亿元,同比增长24.5%。下一步,工业和信息化部将以智能化为主线,推动机器人产业创新发展。聚焦核心零部件、具身智能等关键环节,打通产学研用创新链条,鼓励中外科研机构、企业开展联合攻关,打造一批先进、实用、易用的智能机器人标志性产品。 当前,全球人工智能技术创新空前活跃,智能机器人作为人工智能从数字世界走向物理世界的重要载体,正以前所未有的速度赋能千行百业、走进千家万户。 中国科协副主席、书记处第一书记贺军科表示,智能机器人作为先进制造技术和认知科学、计算科学、神经科学等前沿科技的集大成者,拓展了人工智能技术的应用场景,也赋予机器人技术巨大发展空间。 据悉,本届大会有参展企业300余家。透过大会可以看到,无论是工业、商业,还是家庭消费场景,不少企业更加重视机器人在真实场景下的商用交付,聚焦“智能化”关键词,机器人对物理世界的感知能力进一步增强。 优必选相关负责人表示,2026年人形机器人行业告别概念化探索,迈入场景化、实用化、规模化发展新阶段。企业构建起“基座模型-世界模型-行动模型”的全栈式自研技术体系,其中在机器人基座模型上重点突破两大核心能力,一是机器人第一视角下的场景认知与任务规划能力,二是支撑物理交互的精准感知与空间理解能力。 “推理效率是具身智能从实验室走向真实场景的关键瓶颈。

C | ”大晓机器人世界模型负责人王飞表示,当今的大模型已经学会了理解语言,未来的世界模型会进一步学会理解现实。世界模型不是视频生成技术的简单延伸,它本质上是在构建机器对于世界运转规律的认知能力。随着世界模型、强化学习和机器人技术进一步融合,具身智能才有机会真正走向真实世界。 天眼查数据显示,截至目前,我国现有机器人产业链相关企业超116.5万家,今年以来新增约14.4万家。从新成立企业类型看,科学研究和技术服务业新增约5.4万家,信息传输、软件和信息技术服务业新增约2.29万家,制造业新增约1.72万家。这表明机器人产业的新增主体不再只是整机生产企业,而是更多围绕算法研发、系统集成、场景解决方案、软件平台和工程服务展开,机器人与AI、软件、自动化系统的融合趋势更加明显。 不过也要看到,智能机器人产业发展仍然面临不少挑战,智能化水平不高、技能作业能力不强等问题仍较突出。工业和信息化部副部长辛国斌表示,将以智能化为主线,以实用化为牵引,统筹技术攻关、产业培育、场景拓展与安全治理,推动机器人产业创新发展。 辛国斌表示,将强化创新合作,共同推动机器人产业智能化升级;同时深化应用联动,共同推动产业化进程,聚焦农业、医疗、养老、应急等应用空间广,示范效应强的重点行业,分类组织开展产用结对攻关,实地应用验证和成熟场景推广,以新场景大规模应用,加速新技术新产品迭代升级。 中国电子学会理事长徐晓兰表示,具身智能产品正处在从“小批量试用”转向“大规模落地”的关键节点,未来需围绕核心零部件、软件算法、数据资源、整机制造和应用方案全链条,联合开展技术攻关,共建具身智能联合研发中心,积极开展大科学工程合作,聚焦柔性触觉传感器、精细操作灵巧手、世界模型等前沿技术,推进协同创新突破。(记者 郭倩)。
Current article:http://9s3rtsl.yinkataizengquge.bond/39e/20260826/4172449.html
Published on:10:43:13
我的网站热门国内