Robot camel riders conquer the desert

Caroline Morley, online picture researcher

(Image: Reuters/Stephanie McGehee)

Hooves thunder through Kuwait's sandy landscape and their robot jockeys sit poised and ready to receive their next instruction from the remote control. This surprising clash of traditional and high-tech happened yesterday at the 12th International Camel Race in Kebd.

Robots competing in a sport may not strike everyone as fair play, but most people will welcome the spread of these riders through camel racing. Before laws were brought in to stop the practice, this popular Middle Eastern spectator sport commonly used children as jockeys. According to the US state department, these children are sometimes trafficked, suffer terrible cruelty, and are deliberately underfed to keep their weight down.

But that has changed. The robot jockeys were first introduced in 2005 in the United Arab Emirates and spread quickly across the sport.

The camels and their robot riders are galloping to the finish of a six kilometre race. What you can't see are the camel owners riding alongside in Jeeps, controlling the robots' whips by remote control. The sport continues to attract many spectators, gamblers and participants. There were about 500 competitors in this five-day tournament looking to win the cash prizes or one of 65 Toyota Land Cruisers.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/1cacd153/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cshortsharpscience0C20A120C0A20Crobot0Ecamel0Eriders0Econquer0Ethe0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

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