TOKYO: Miniature remote controlled cars have proved to be a crowd pleaser at track and field throwing events, but for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Toyota Motor Corp is upping the game with a hi-tech way to fetch javelins and hammers: pint-sized, self-driving A.I. robot cars.
Draped around the top of its body is a band of LED lights which illuminate when the vehicle uses artificial intelligence to follow event officials towards the equipment hurled by athletes onto the pitch during shot put, discus throw, hammer throw and javelin events. "Humans are better suited to picking up heavy equipment from the field, but for quickly transporting them to their respective return depots, that's a job that's best performed by robots," Takeshi Kuwabara, a project planning manager who oversaw the robot's development, told reporters.
A major sponsor of the Tokyo Games, Toyota also plans to dispatch virtual reality enabled humanoid robots and mobile telepresence robots which will enable spectators who cannot attend the games in person to experience events and meet athletes remotely.