Qatar to replace camel
jockeys with robots
By Basil Okafor
Monday, April 25, 2005
Soaking wet with oil money,
Qataris are investing in robots to replace humans in camel
races by the year 2007.
And this time around, the new jockeys won’t be anything
like the usual desert-savvy, but underfed boy.’With
the reins in one hand and a whip in the other, a trial purple-jerseyed
rider prodded the camel around a racetrack, recently.
Under the watchful eyes of his Swiss developer and Qatari
owners, the robot – dubbed Kamel – rode a racing
camel for 1.5 miles, reaching speeds of 25 miles per hour
in a non-competitive trial run.
By 2007, rulers of this energy-rich emirate say all camel
racers will be mechanical.
The developer, Alexandre Colot of the Swiss robotics firm
K-Team, wasn’t as impressed as the rest of the crowd.
“I wasn’t surprised,” Colot said, as he
walked toward the camel to unstrap Kamel and put him in a
box for the night. “I’ve seen him do that before,
so to me, it’s not something strange.”
Camel racing has deep roots in the traditions of Gulf Arabs
and their survival in this barren and once poor and isolated
land. Races are grueling contests of endurance and take place
on oval courses as long as 10 kilometres. Betting is banned
but lucrative purses are put forward by corporate or tribal
sponsors.
Spurring the robots’ development has been vehement condemnation
from human rights groups of the sport’s regular jockeys.
Activists say there are about 40,000 boy jockeys, some as
young as 4, who are either bought from their parents or kidnapped
from their home countries and taken to the Gulf to ride. The
boys live in bleak conditions and are underfed before races
to keep their weight down.
In Qatar, ruling sheiks have responded to calls for banning
the use of boy jockeys by embracing robots as the best solution.
Sheik Abdullah bin Saud, the Qatari official in charge of
the project, said the plan is to keep developing the robot
until it is ready to take over.
“Improve the speed, the weight, the aerodynamics, to
reach the ultimate goal of completely phasing out children
used as jockeys,” Sheik Abdullah said.
The project began in January last year, when K-Team sent a
group to study camel races in Doha.
“We came to Doha with only a digital camera,”
Colot said. “We took detailed shots of the jockeys riding
the camels, to capture every possible movement and reaction
by the jockeys that occurs during the race.”
The result was a robot that receives commands from a remote
control up to a half-mile away.
A camel handler follows the rider in a vehicle and uses a
joystick on the laptop-sized remote to issue four instructions:
forward, backward, sideways and whip action. The robot, in
turn, uses those commands to drive the camel.
The 60-pound robot is also equipped with a global positioning
system satellite beacon and shock absorbers for the rough
ride.
To prevent camels from rejecting the robots, handlers spray
their jerseys with traditional perfume used by trainers.
“It was important for us that the camel recognises and
accepts the robot, so we had to make him as human as possible,”
said Colot.
“We can’t stop these races. They are part of our
history and tradition, so we have tried to find an alternative,”
Sheik Abdullah said.
Race organisers plan to have 20 riding robots ready when racing
season starts in October. Sheik Abdullah said plans are underway
to set up an assembly plant, a maintenance centre and a training
institute for robot users.
Sheik Abdullah and Colot said camel-racing enthusiasts were
sceptical that robots could ride as well as boys, worrying
that the machines would ruin the lucrative sport, where winners
claim purses of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“We’ve proved that it works,” said Colot.
“It will take time, and we’ll train some of them
to use the robot by June.”
The Swiss engineer said that initial results show that robots
may soon become the preferred jockeys, not just a second-best
alternative.
“We’re 10 seconds slower than the fastest time
recorded for a 5-kilometre race,” he said.
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