If you’ve tuned in for any track and field events at the Paris Olympics, you may have noticed a fleet of cute little robot cars speeding around the infield.
They’re called field support robots and their job is equipment retrieval!
Developed by Toyota, these robots work with their human friends to pick up and drop off the items that have been thrown (often very far away) by athletes competing in javelin, hammer, shotput and discus. Once an athlete makes a throw, a staffer out in the field grabs the tossed equipment and loads it up into the car. From there, the field support robot uses cameras and sensors to efficiently return the equipment to its designated dropoff location — back where the athletes throw.
The robots' presence cuts down time spent retrieving the equipment and reduces the number of people needed out in the field.
These cars, however, are old news for hardcore followers of track and field. The Olympics have been using them for years now — changing up the look each time around — and rugby is getting in on the action, too:
Check out field support robots at the Olympics throughout the years:
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