Robocops, VR for South Korea’s high-tech Winter Games

RIO DE JANEIRO: Robots will help guard Pyeongchang 2018 and specially designed technology will lower language barriers in the most high-tech Winter Olympics yet, the Games’ chief organiser told AFP.

Organising committee president Lee Hee- Beom also said drones would be used extensively at a “state- of-the-art” Olympics which will trade heavily on South Korea’s technological expertise.

“Not only for security also for some other areas,” Lee said in an interview at the Rio Olympics, when asked how robots would be used in Pyeongchang.

“We are aiming at a barrier-free Olympic Games so we will do our best to make it language barrierfree, age barrier- free, handicap barrier-free.

“I’m not going to go into much detail but I advise you to come and enjoy it.”

While details of the technology, some of it still under development, were not revealed, South Korea’s technical advances of recent times throw up some tantalising possibilities.

South Korean- designed HUBO humanoids have sophisticated voice recognition and vision and can walk, roll on four wheels and even climb stairs.

The HUBO picked up a 2 million prize last year in a competition in which it had to drive and exit a vehicle, open a door, cut through a wall and find and close a leaking valve.

A South Korean arms manufacturer has also developed a robotic sentry which is able to identify, warn, track and -- if commanded -- shoot intruders. But Lee said the technology in use at Pyeongchang would be “not only robots”.

“We are preparing state- of-theart technologies,” he said. “As you know, Korea is well advanced in the IT business.

“We have many advanced companies including Samsung and other venture companies so we are developing stateofthe- art technologies in the area of information technology, and we will use state- of- the- art technologies including robots.

“We are preparing lots of things. Virtual reality, some other things. You can come and see it.” — AFP