High-tech makes Games mark
An icy river in Beijing was the setting for a special Olympic torch relay as an amphibious robot shaped like a curling stone held a metallic red-and-silver torch.
The robot slid along the ice before plunging into an unfrozen area of the river, with the flame burning well underwater as it was passed to another robot.
The second torch was swiftly lit, completing the first-ever robotic underwater Olympic torch relay. The entire process took about eight minutes, with the second robot emerging from the water to pass the torch to a human bearer. The first robot and torch were later recovered from the river.
Thomas Bach, International Olympic Committee president, said on Feb 6 that the Beijing Winter Olympics have made history by achieving an unprecedented level of digitalization and have set new technology standards for the future.
He made the comments while interacting virtually with journalists at a news center in Beijing through holographic communication technologies developed by the Chinese technology company Alibaba.
The virtual interaction, supported by a range of sophisticated technology, was projected onto a remote highdefinition screen, generating a true-to-life hologram effect, the IOC said. All details were reconstructed in high definition, including detailed facial expressions and the texture of clothing.
A wide variety of technological applications was on show at the Games as Chinese companies, including heavyweights and startups, constantly experiment with novel ideas and new technologies.
China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp. was responsible for developing the special torches used in the underwater Olympic torch relay.
The company said that compared with underwater torches overseas that use solid fuel and whose flames cause pollution, those for the Beijing Winter Games used gaseous fuel that is smokeless and causes no pollution. Numerous design obstacles were overcome to achieve this.
Earlier this month a selfdriving car carried the Olympic torch for the first time in the Games’ history.
The car, developed by the information technology company Baidu, carried the torch for about 2,620 feet on Feb 2 at Shougang Industrial Park in Beijing, which hosted several Games events.
Wei Dong, vice-president of Baidu’s intelligent driving business group, said, “We prefer to call it a robot because we will increasingly engage with more moving robots in our daily lives.”
At the industrial park, China Unicom, the official telecommunications service provider for the Games, built a 5G-enabled intelligent vehicle networking system covering 247 acres.
Thanks to the integration of 5G technologies and the Beidou Satellite Navigation System, the unmanned vehicles can achieve continuous, high-precision positioning to within 4 inches, said Liu Qi, a senior technical expert at China Unicom’s Smart City Research Institute.
At the Games opening ceremony on Feb 4 the potential of many technologies, including 5G, AI and the internet of things, won many admirers by blending perfectly with art to deliver a realistic, dynamic and immersive experience for visitors.
The National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest, underwent an intelligent transformation to host the opening and closing ceremonies.
Chang Yu, director of the opening and closing ceremonies department for the organizing committee, said: “Inside the Bird’s Nest we’ve set up digital workstations and rendering workshops for instant visual effect generation, completely upgrading the venue from a traditional structure to a smart stadium.”
Instead of using traditional projection, the entire floor of the stadium is fully equipped with high-definition lightemitting diode, or LED, technology.
“Inside the Bird’s Nest we’ve set up digital workstations and rendering workshops for instant visual effect generation, completely upgrading the venue from a traditional structure to a smart stadium.”
CHANG YU
AI also provided more technical support for the Winter Olympics. AI-powered robots cleaned and disinfected venues, AI sign language presenters allowed the hearing impaired to enjoy the excitement of the Games, and robotic chefs cooked a wide variety of meals.
High-tech cabins at the Beijing media center also gave journalists the chance to catch up on sleep. The 20 cabins were developed by Keeson Technology Corp., and with a simple scan of their phone media representatives could use them for power naps for up to an hour.
The spacious cabins were equipped with the same type of beds provided for the athletes. Users could adjust the position of beds, which had a massage setting, by using a remote control or their phone.
The United States luge athlete Summer Britcher said on a social media platform that the beds’ “zero gravity” mode could produce the “phenomenal” feeling of being in outer space.
A reliable system for broadcasting Olympic events was also pivotal to ensuring that more people could enjoy the top-level competition, given that many spectators, especially foreigners, were unable to attend the Games because of the pandemic.
Dong Quanwu, director of the research and development department at Beijing International Cloud Broadcasting Technology Co., said many tasks could be accomplished much more easily by using 5G and cloud technologies.
A powerful, cloud-based rebroadcasting system meant much of the editing work could be done remotely by people in other locations, for example, without the need for a broadcasting vehicle or numerous workers at the scene.
Zhang Xiaoyang, a technical manager for the organizing committee, said the pandemic had posed many challenges for the Games, but also produced new opportunities to develop technologies.