Olympic Ready? Robot Skiers Compete in South Korea

 

As the world’s top athletes competed at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, some robots also showed off their winter sports skills.

A ski race involving robots was held recently at the Welli Hilli Park ski area near Pyeongchang.

Eight teams built and programmed the robots to compete in the Ski Robot Challenge for a chance to win a $10,000 prize.

The robots came in different shapes and sizes.

The rules, however, required them to have the basic form of a human. They needed to be able to stand on two “legs,” with joints¹ similar to elbows and knees. They also had to be at least 50 centimeters tall.

In addition, each robot had to have an independent power system and use the same skis and poles that people do. A Facebook page for the competition listed the robot names and described details of how they were built.

Some of the racers looked very human-like, complete with winter clothes covering their mechanical bodies. Others rode down the hill with nothing covering their shiny, high-tech² parts. Some racers were tall, others short. Some did not have heads.

The robots - equipped with cameras and sensors³ - used artificial intelligence, or AI, to move through the Olympic-style race course. The winner was the robot that made it down the hill fastest, with the lowest number crashes or collisions with course obstacles.

Winning that top honor was the TaekwonV robot, built by South Korean robotics company Minirobot. TaekwonV – named after a South Korean film character – skied around five obstacles before finishing the course in 18 seconds.

On the day of the competition, high winds forced some of the Olympic skiing events to be delayed. One member of the winning team, Lee Sok-min, said he was sorry to hear about the Olympic weather problems. But he added, “The robots are doing fine here.”

Videos of the robotic race clearly showed some of the robots having trouble staying up on the skis and navigating⁴ the course. But several watchers of the event said they found the race an interesting way to show off some of the latest human-like robots.

“I’m amazed that the robots recognize the flags as they can ski down while avoiding them,” 12-year-old Son Ki-ryong told Reuters.

The organizer of the race, Kim Dong-Uk, said he hopes the event will be the start of something much bigger. “I think in the future, robots will have their own Winter Games on the sidelines of the Olympics held by humans,” he said.

He added that until then, he will keep holding international events to show off South Korea’s robotic technology to the world.

South Korea is one of several Asian nations heavily investing in robotics, AI and machine learning technology. Major developers include electronics⁵ giants Samsung and LG. Japan and Singapore also have growing robotics industries.

But Asia’s largest robotics developer by far is China, which set a goal to become the world leader over the next decade. The goal is part of the government’s “Made in China 2025” plan, which seeks to change many industries with the use of technology.

One of the country’s most active AI developers is Chinese online seller Alibaba. The company recently announced an AI-powered learning tool it developed performed better than human beings in a high-level test of reading comprehension.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

athlete – n. person who is trained or good at sports

artificial intelligence – n. the ability of a machine to reproduce⁶ human behavior

course – n. a path followed by people in a race

obstacle – n. an object standing⁷ in the way of something

navigate⁸ – v. to find the way to get to a certain place

amaze – v. to surprise and sometimes confuse (someone) very much

comprehension – n. the ability to understand something

1 joints   

接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语）

参考例句：

• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on gas mains. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在煤气的总管道上了。
• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on steam pipes. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在蒸气管道上了。

2 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

3 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

4 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

5 electronics   

n.电子器件，电子学，电子技术

参考例句：

• About 45000 people worked in electronics in Scotland.苏格兰约有4.5万人在电子行业工作。
• He wants to brush up his knowledge of electronics.他想温习他的电子学知识。

6 reproduce   

v.生育，繁殖，复制，重做

参考例句：

• The machine can reproduce a key in two minutes.这机器能在两分钟内复制一把钥匙。
• The picture will reproduce well.这照片会印得很清楚。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。