The Robot Camel Riders
The people in the Middle East and the Arab World have many different sports that are famous throughout the region. However, did you know about the sport of camel racing, and that the camels are being ridden by robots?
Camel Racing History and Popularity
Camel racing is very similar to horse racing, where people bet on and watch people ride camels towards the finish line. The reason for camels instead of horses in this part of the world is due to the climate and the Bedouin tradition across the Arab World of using camels for transportation and other tasks, this, in turn, makes camels especially revered across this region of the world. Even though the sport is popular in the Middle East, other areas have camel racing events as well, such as Australia where they host the Camel Cup in Alice Springs. However, the most unique form of camel racing takes place in the Arabian Gulf nations of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and especially the UAE. Some experts predict that the sport of camel racing originated in the 7th century, and it is still widely popular across Arabia today. In the UAE, the sport became organized under Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan during the 80s and 90s according to the New York Times. Camel racing has since become a multi-million dollar industry across the Gulf, and it was even promoted by the sheikhs of the UAE in order to keep the country’s traditional customs alive during the modernization period, thanks to their large amounts of oil, according to dailybeast.com. Despite its popularity, the sport is not without its controversies as a lot of camel racing tournaments would feature children riding on them from countries abroad such as Bangladesh and Sudan. This, in turn, influenced members of the sport to move away from human riders to robots as robot riders don’t have to worry about getting injured on animals that can run at around 40 kilometers per hour, and it wouldn’t involve children being human trafficked from abroad to ride on them. The rise of robots in the Middle East has also shown the increasing influence of robotics across the region and the entire world.
The Development of the Robot Jockeys
Image by the guardian.com
The robots that direct the camels are equipped with whips and jerseys when riding and usually being around two feet tall. The way that the people with the jockeys control them is by driving a car, usually SUVs, around the circuit near the robot jockeys to get them to do the tasks via remote control, which is needed to get the camels moving and to speed them up. They also use the jockeys to talk to the camels in order to give commands during the race as well. At first, these robots were much larger, which would have made them much more clumsy and difficult for the camels to move. However, the robots would soon become smaller, and would shrink from around 30 pounds to around 10 pounds, and can be made with parts from walkie-talkies, power drills, plastic, cotton, and aluminum according to ripleys.com. This development then helped with practicality and made the use of camel racing with robots financially possible as well since it drove the cost down from $10,000 each to only around $300 after the size down according to dailybeast.com. The lightweight and cheap cost of these robots have made many people involved in camel racing embrace them since they are usually lighter than any human can be, making it easier for the camel to go faster due to there being less weight. Since the development of these robots, it has been started to be used in the UAE by 2005 and it is also widespread in Qatar as well as in other countries in the Gulf and in the rest of the Arab World from Egypt to Jordan. Today the use of robots can be seen in camel racing events around the Arab World and especially in the Gulf.
The use of robot jockeys in the Arab World could show a positive light on the increasing automation around the globe. Thanks to the use of these robot jockeys, camel races have become better as the camels need not carry much weight around due to the small size of the machines, and it is often comical to see these little robots going around the circuit around the race track. However, most importantly, it provides an incentive to use these instead of children or other human racers who could get hurt by falling off of these camels and has allowed countries such as the UAE in 2005 to ban child camel riders, which is now easier since people can use robots now. Today camel racing featuring robot jockeys can be fun for everyone and is a great experience to have a good time and hang out with others.
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