From Ride ‘em, Robot: Qatar Offers Solution To a Jockey Shortage:
The camel-racing world in Qatar, an island nation in the Persian Gulf, was on the brink of turmoil. Although a minimum age of 15 years for jockeys was set in 1980 across the Gulf, antislavery groups estimate that thousands of underage jockeys are still used in the region. Children as young as four are bought from impoverished parents or simply kidnapped in countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The solution? Robo-jockeys:
Back in Switzerland, it took months at the drawing board to adjust balance and shock-absorption and to protect against heat. Camels race at around 25 miles an hour — about 10 or 12 miles an hour slower than racehorses — in temperatures well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. ‘We conducted 100 hours of testing with 20 prototypes,’ says Mr. Al-Thani.The final product is a 59-pound, human-shaped droid. Mechanical arms and legs help it lean, balance and pull at the reins. The robots are fixed to the special camel saddle, equipped with straps, hooks and clips to keep them in place. They receive orders from trainers riding along behind via a remote-control system attached to the back of the camel.
Equipped with a global positioning system, cameras and microphones, the devices allow trainers to track the animal’s heart rate (170 to 172 beats per minute is a camel’s maximum), the sounds they make and even their facial expression. And the trainer can use a microphone to deliver such exhortations as the typical ‘haey hej’in!’
The camel trainer uses a joystick on a laptop-size control box to give commands: pulling back to tighten the reins and slow down the animal, forward to ease up on them and left and right for turns. The robot can also operate a whip, and a button on the joystick sends a signal to pull the reins sharply for an emergency stop.
Also, I can’t be the first person to notice the uncanny resemblance between the robot camel jockey and the robot assassin, Necron99, from Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards.
Seriously.