{"id":57936,"date":"2018-02-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-18T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/richardvanhooijdonk.com\/blog\/the-winter-olympics-are-surprisingly-high-tech-4-cool-innovations-to-look-for-during-the-games\/"},"modified":"2024-12-19T22:14:52","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T20:14:52","slug":"the-winter-olympics-are-surprisingly-high-tech-4-cool-innovations-to-look-for-during-the-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/en\/the-winter-olympics-are-surprisingly-high-tech-4-cool-innovations-to-look-for-during-the-games\/","title":{"rendered":"The Winter Olympics are surprisingly high-tech: 4 cool innovations to look for during the games"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"bold-list\">\n<li>Samsung\u2019s SmartSuit helps Sjinkie Knegt take silver<\/li>\n<li>Under Armour\u2019s Mach 39 gives American speed skaters every advantage<\/li>\n<li>US skiers use virtual reality to get an edge<\/li>\n<li>Pyeongchang fields robots and drones to help organise the games and keep them safe<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>On the 9th of February in Pyeongchang, it wasn\u2019t just the world\u2019s athletes who were introduced to a global audience. The 2018 Winter Olympics are host to some of the world\u2019s most advanced tech, too. From cutting-edge speed skating suits to translator robots, the Pyeongchang games are a marvel of science, engineering, and innovative design.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"The Winter Olympics are surprisingly high-tech: 4 cool innovations to look for during the games\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z4pE4x93dyE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s take a closer look at 4 <a href=\"https:\/\/richardvanhooijdonk.com\/keynote\/trends-2040-ben-jij-er-klaar-voor\/\">amazing advances<\/a> on display at the Olympics.<\/p>\n<h2>Samsung\u2019s SmartSuit helps Sjinkie Knegt take silver<\/h2>\n<p>When Sjinkie Knegt, a Dutch speed skater, stepped onto the ice last Saturday for the 1,500-metre short-track speed skating final, he was well-prepared for a silver medal. In fact, he has a secret training weapon: the Samsung SmartSuit. Custom made for him and his teammate, Suzanne Schulting, these suits were designed by the tech gurus at Samsung to provide their coach with the precise data he needs to hone these skaters to the sharpest edge for competition.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_32461\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32461\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-32461 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/05\/Smart-Suit-1024x683-1.jpg\" alt=\" Two speed skaters side-by-side on ice with Samsung\u2019s logo in the background \" width=\"800\" height=\"534\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32461\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Custom made for him and his teammate, Suzanne Schulting, these suits were designed by the tech gurus at Samsung to provide their coach with the precise data he needs to hone these skaters to the sharpest edge for competition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For short-track skaters, form is critical. If they remain too upright, they catch the wind and slow themselves by fractions of a second. That may not seem like much, but in a sport where silver and gold are separated by thousandth of a second, perfection is everything. The SmartSuits are precision sensors in the form of racing gear, and they measure the distance of Knegt and Schulting\u2019s hips from the ice. A mobile app sends real-time data to their coach, Jeroen Otter, letting him see what his eyes can\u2019t as he watches them train. If the data reveals something he doesn\u2019t like, he can send a message to the SmartSuit, which vibrates at the wrist to tell the skaters to correct their position.<\/p>\n<p>The suits are all about building speed through perfect position, and with more short-track skating on the Olympic schedule, we\u2019re sure we\u2019ll see more orange on the medal podium!<\/p>\n<h2>Under Armour\u2019s Mach 39 gives American speed skaters every advantage<\/h2>\n<p>The Dutch aren\u2019t alone in leveraging tech to shave time from their skaters\u2019 laps. The US speed skaters are wearing cutting-edge speed skating suits designed by Under Armour. As Clay Dean, Under Armour\u2019s chief innovation officer, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/under-armour-olympic-speed-skating-suit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">explains<\/a>, &#8220;We\u2019re trying to get the body to be more aerodynamic than it is in its natural state.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_32464\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32464\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-32464 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/05\/Armour\u2019s-Mach-1024x683-1.jpg\" alt=\" A speed skater in a black tracksuit in the starting position photographed from behind\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32464\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The US speed skaters are wearing cutting-edge speed skating suits designed by Under Armour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>To do that, these suits need to defeat physics. \u201cSpeed skaters wage a battle with physics every time they race,\u201d Elizabeth Stinson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/under-armour-olympic-speed-skating-suit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">writes<\/a> for <em>Wired<\/em>. \u201cAs their muscular bodies cut through the air at more than 30 mph [48 kmph], they leave a trail of drag in their wake. The key to winning (against physics and humans alike) is to reduce the amount of air resistance a body produces.\u201d These cleverly designed suits use a variety of carefully placed micro-textures and dimples to break up the air as it swirls around the racers, preventing a vacuum from forming behind them and literally holding them back.<\/p>\n<p>So far, the American speed skaters have been denied any medals, a replay of the Sochi games, where they underperformed expectations. But as this week\u2019s races take place, perhaps they can still find a place on the podium.<\/p>\n<h2>US skiers use virtual reality to get an edge<\/h2>\n<p>American Olympians are always coming to the Olympics just a little bit behind. That\u2019s because, unlike most of their competitors, these athletes don\u2019t receive government funding, as Matt Davis <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/winter-olympics\/42572433\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reports<\/a> for the <em>BBC<\/em>. That forces them to think outside the box and to improvise to overcome this obstacle. &#8220;To make up the funding difference we have to be innovative and experimental and take advantage of assets like Silicon Valley, research universities and sponsorship, to gain advantage on a global scale,&#8221; Troy Taylor, the high performance director for the US Ski Team, tells Davis.<\/p>\n<p>For athletes in the Super G and downhill, surprisingly little time is actually spent on the slopes. As Taylor <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/winter-olympics\/42572433\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">explains<\/a>, &#8220;We try and get on the snow 150-200 days a year and are chasing snow around the world \u2026 Each time we are on the snow we get maybe six to 10 training runs, for about 30-60 seconds at a time, so that is only three to 10 minutes a day.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_32466\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32466\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-32466 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/05\/Virtual-reality-1024x601-1.jpg\" alt=\"A woman in the gym wearing a VR headset attached to a laptop in front of her\" width=\"800\" height=\"470\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32466\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wearing Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear headsets, the skiers watch STRIVR&#8217;s 360-degree video.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It\u2019s easy to see that this is nowhere near enough time to train, and to help his skiers adjust to The Jeongseon Alpine Centre\u2019s slopes, Taylor\u2019s having them use virtual reality (VR) goggles and simulated skis to make extra runs. Wearing Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear headsets, the skiers watch STRIVR&#8217;s 360-degree video. As they perch on balance boards that mimic skis, they can re-run their courses, training in their hotel rooms to get ready for the snow. As Taylor <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/winter-olympics\/42572433\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">relates<\/a> to the <em>BBC<\/em>, &#8220;The clear advantage of VR is that it is a great way to help athletes get more used to and learn specific courses, which is an obvious performance benefit \u2026 They feel they know the courses they will race on better, so when they come to ski on it during a race they enter the start gate with an increased confidence level. That is a big part of competition, having the confidence to attack parts of the course where you can find time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Olympic Athletes Train with Virtual Reality\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0HzMDBOxZaI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Mikaela Shiffrin, who\u2019s been using this tech, just took gold in the women\u2019s giant slalom with a time of 2:20:02! No doubt this extra training helped her do her best.<\/p>\n<h2>Pyeongchang fields robots and drones to help organise the games and keep them safe<\/h2>\n<p>Of course, while the athletes are centre-stage, the Olympic Games host hundreds of thousands of spectators from around the world. Helping these guests, answering their questions, and translating to and from dozens of languages is a monumental task. Add to that the need to keep the venues spotless and safe, and you get a sense of just how tough hosting the Winter Olympics really is.<\/p>\n<p>South Korea is a leader in robotics, and it\u2019s demonstrating this by fielding 85 robots for the games. These aren\u2019t just show pieces. As Emily Matchar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/innovation\/meet-robots-2018-olympics-180968031\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reports<\/a> for <em>Smithsonian Magazine<\/em>, \u201cthe robots will assist athletes, clean venues, provide translation and even ski\u201d. Our Olympic hosts unveiled their prowess in an amazing way, having HUBO, a bipedal robot, play a prominent role in the torch-bearing ceremony. \u201cClad in an Olympic beanie, 47-inch humanoid robot HUBO drove a car in December\u2019s torch relay, then got out and carried the torch to a wall, punched through the wall as a demonstration of his rescue skills, and passed the flame to his creator, Professor Oh Jun-ho,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/innovation\/meet-robots-2018-olympics-180968031\/?page=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">writes<\/a> Matchar.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_32468\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32468\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-32468 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/05\/Robots-1024x454-1.jpg\" alt=\"A humanoid robot standing in front of a brick wall \" width=\"800\" height=\"355\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32468\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">South Korea is a leader in robotics, and it\u2019s demonstrating this by fielding 85 robots for the games.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That\u2019s a big deal &#8211; not just a publicity stunt. What HUBO demonstrated was that a rescue-bot built to navigate human environments could move as we do: climb in and out of a car, walk, run, and seamlessly manipulate hand-held objects. Those are precisely the kinds of things that a robot needs to do well in disasters like Fukushima, where a rescue-bot will need to navigate stairs and doorways and use human-centric tools and controls.<\/p>\n<p>And in a stunning display of artificial intelligence, Hancom, a South Korean tech giant, has deployed emotion-detecting, interactive translators throughout the Olympic venues. Collaborating with Future Robot, Hancom combines touchscreen interfaces with a robot equipped with a simulated human face. Because the AI can recognise and respond to a user\u2019s emotions, \u201cThis will allow them to feel as if they are talking to a human being, as both firms focused on developing an emotionally interactive robot in terms of its service and appearance,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scmp.com\/tech\/article\/2069767\/ai-interpretation-robot-help-pyeongchang-olympics-next-year\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">explains<\/a> a Hancom spokeswoman to the <em>South China Morning Post<\/em>. These translator-bots can speak Korean, Chinese, English, and Japanese.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Korea&#039;s humanoid robot &#039;HUBO&#039; joins PyeongChang Olympic torch relay\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZHGZxvBrn-E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And South Korea hasn\u2019t ignored the safety of its guests with its robotic \u2018army\u2019. A growing concern for large, open-air sporting events is the possibility of a drone attack. Whether carrying a bomb or a biological agent, large crowds are a tempting target for terrorists. To prevent such a tragedy, Olympic security are flying anti-drone drones. With these airborne guardians ready to cast a net over any suspicious flying objects, athletes and spectators alike can relax and enjoy the events.<\/p>\n<p>We don\u2019t usually think of the Olympics as a high-tech venue. That\u2019s because we\u2019re focused on the sports and the athletes, the sweet victories and bitter defeats that keep us glued to our screens. But if we look behind these stunning performances, it\u2019s clear that technology is becoming an increasingly critical component of the games, helping the athletes shine in safety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Samsung\u2019s SmartSuit helps Sjinkie Knegt take silver Under Armour\u2019s Mach 39 gives American speed skaters every advantage US skiers use virtual reality to get an edge Pyeongchang fields robots and drones to help organise the games and keep them safe On the 9th of February in Pyeongchang, it wasn\u2019t just the world\u2019s athletes who were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45439,"parent":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5436],"tags":[4382,4383],"article-type":[],"trends":[],"class_list":["post-57936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-future-technology","tag-olympic-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57936"},{"taxonomy":"article-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-type?post=57936"},{"taxonomy":"trends","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trends?post=57936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}