As the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics heralded a new era for the popularity of ice and snow sports across China, winter sports-related robots have become a trending topic in exploring new ways of combining sports and smart technology.
Skiing and curling robots will be eye-catching in their debut during the 2022 World Robot Conference that take place at Beijing Yizhuang International Convention and Exhibition Center from August 18 to 21.
In specific, the robots are the Curling Hexapod Robot and Skiing Hexapod Robot, both featuring six legs as the word "hexapod" implies. They were developed by the Intelligent Walking Robot Research Center of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University as a key project in cooperation with the China Olympic Committee during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
The curling robot, in the size of 1.5m by 0.8m by 0.5m, is the world's first robot designed to imitate curling actions, said Chen Xianbao, research associate from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
"The front two legs are able to release the stone, which is delivery in curling. The whole 4kg robot is supported by the middle two legs. The back legs kick out and its strength determines the position of the 'pitcher'," Chen explained.
"In specific, the accuracy of the direction of the pedaling force determines the accuracy of pitching," he said, adding that the robot had a 100 percent accuracy in its seven take-outs, which were displayed at the National Aquatics Center during the Games.
Many elite athletes may picture themselves as robot-like scoring machine. In comparison between robots and athletes, Chen said "robots can achieve high precision in a repetitive way that some elite athletes may not."
The skiing robot can slide at the speed of over 10 meters per second on primary and intermediate slopes.
Similar to the curling robot, the skiing robot has middle legs for supportive skiing and braking, while the front and back legs clinch the skis.
The skiing robot is equipped with intelligent sensing and brake-control system, meaning it can slalom down a course.
Chen recalled there were two difficult parts in designing the skiing robot. One was the robot's stability control and the other was quick identification on the ski slope.
"Any bump on the slope may result into the robot falling, just like humans," he said.
In terms of human-robot interaction, "ski robots may replace humans on snowy mountain slopes, completing tasks such as field patrol in severe cold or complex environments," he said.
In 2018, a robot mimicking Chinese basketball icon Yao Ming debuted at the conference as a unique high-fidelity figure-imitation shooting robot. Yao was the flag-bearer at the opening ceremony of Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games and 2018 marked the ten-year anniversary of the grand event. In 2021, a "Kungfu Panda" robot that can play tai chi fascinated spectators. This year's sports robots have switched to winter sports, implying the prosperity of "Sports for All" in China.