Perhaps you’ve been keeping up to date with Team GB via Olympics coverage (or are cheering on other nations). Perhaps you’re not remotely interested and can’t wait till the Winter Olympics are over. Either way, there’s one team you may be interested to know have been performing very well at Pyeongchang 2018 – Team Robot.
20 robots have been taking part in the Winter Olympics, most notably in the opening ceremony and taking part in the Olympic torch relay. A robot resembling Short Circuit’s Johnny No. 5 carried a torch whilst breaking down a brick wall (presumably symbolic of barriers being broken between humanity and technology). Flying drones were also some of the privileged few chosen to bear the torch once it reached South Korea.
Robots have even been competing in their own ski tournament in Hoenseong for a $10,000 USD prize. Eight ‘skibot’ teams from universities, institutes and private companies raced down a beginner ski slope as their human counterparts in Pyeongchang waited for wind conditions to settle before being able to compete. All robots were required to be more than 50 cm tall, stand on two ‘legs’ and have joints resembling knees and elbows. Robotic vacuum cleaners have also been spotted cleaning the main press centre in Pyeonchang alongside humans using traditional vacuum cleaners.
Is robot participation an example of future technology augmenting rather than replacing humans? I asked my 7 year old what he thinks about robots performing with humans at the opening ceremony and he thought it was ‘cool.’ Colleagues at work were not as bowled over. I found it exciting to watch and then wondered what it meant for future human-robot relations. Is it celebrating South Korea’s leading role in technology? Does it remind you of the film and television robots which are no longer fiction?
South Korean officials have said that they expect robots to feature alongside all future Winter Olympics. However, in their Olympic flame-lighting ceremony press release, robots are referred to as a ‘means of transportation’ for the Olympic torch. The opening ceremony drones I watched performing alongside skiers were awe-inspiring and not a means of transport. They were fully fledged performers contributing to the ‘augmented reality’ which had been kept top secret before the ceremony.
Whether they’re cleaning buildings or flying down ski slopes, I think we’ll be seeing more of our robot colleagues at worldwide events in the future.
