Watch: World's 1st robot ski tournament held in South Korea
Not far from PyeongChang, a group of humanoid robots held their own version of the Winter Olympics.
Eight robotics teams from South Korean tech companies and universities gathered in Hoengseong County on Monday to compete for $10,000 at Edge of Robot: Ski Robot Challenge, the world's first ever robot ski tournament.
Freezing temperatures and strong winds caused many of the robots to crash before reaching the finish line, according to Sohn Ji-young of the Korea Herald. They also lack the color-sensing capabilities of their human counterparts.
"Because they're not humans, robots sometimes cannot recognize different shades of red as the same color," said Sam Kim, director of tech sales at Mini Robot Corp., which won the tournament. "So during the competition, they might not have processed the color of the flag poles because of the sunlight, leading them to get their paths confused."
Just a few miles away from the #PyeongChangWinterOlympics is another elite level competition. The Ski Robot Challenge. Had our engineers not been busy we might have had a crack at this. #engineering #robotics pic.twitter.com/JsjCe9vqyz
— Stage One (@StageOneLtd) February 11, 2018
In addition to the ski tournament, the PyeongChang 2018 committee will display robots at the Olympic stadiums, event venues, and main media center during the games.