Dubai to host the world’s first Robot Olympics in December 2017
Looks like we will soon have athletic racing between man and machine in near future. In a step towards that, Dubai will be hosting the world’s first Robot Olympics in 2017.
Last weekend, Dubai witnessed the inaugural World Drone Prix with the drone racing kicking off as a professional sport. Now, the Government of Dubai, which is the largest city in the United Arab Emirates, is rolling out the red carpet for our future ruling class by announcing plans for World Future Sports Games in December 2017.
Government officials said the three-day event will be held every two years and that it will work to build sports leagues for robots and other future machine gizmos around the world.
The games will focus on nine competitions, drawing on the best of robotics and artificial intelligence, which includes driverless car racing, robotic soccer, robotic running, manned drones racing, robotic swimming, robotic table tennis, robotic wrestling, drone races and a cybathlon event for bionic athletes.
The announcement came following the World Drone Prix in Dubai this weekend, which saw a 15-year-old British teenager take home prize money of $250,000.
“Today we start a new phase in our march to the future through the launch of these unique initiatives that are built on the success of our global platforms, the UAE Drones for Good Award and UAE AI & Robotics Award for Good,” said His Highness Sheikh Hamdan, Crown Prince of Dubai, in a statement. “Over the last two years, these platforms have attracted thousands of entries and hundreds of teams from around the world to strengthen the position of the UAE in the field of innovation at the global level.”
Dubai is also building a new World Federation of Future Sports, which will be headed by UAE government minister Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi. The Government of Dubai says the organization will work with existing global sports bodies to drive for international standards and regulatory frameworks around this developing area.
While the drone race turns out to be just the beginning of Dubai’s ambitions, we can expect the robot Olympics to be a big and shiny affair when the games take place in Dubai in December next year.
