The good news is that Skynet has not happened yet, and we are free to live without robotic overlords. That is, except for maybe professional photographers, who may find that the robots are indeed taking over the London Olympics.
Reuters will have 11 robots set up in places that no human photographer will be able to access. Whether or not this will lead to pictures that no human photographer will get remains to be seen, but the hardware just might be on the robots’ side.
The robotic system, developed by Fabrizio Bensch and Pawel Kopczynski, flaunts Canon’s 18.1 megapixel 1-DX with an array of lenses perfect for the opportunity. You will find lenses that include a 24-105mm, a 70-200mm and telephotos up to 400mm.
Now, to be honest these three-axis mounted cameras are not completely self-aware (sigh of relief), since they are joystick operated by a human. The images are fed directly into the Reuter’s network for editing and distribution.
You can expect to find the camera system reaching into popular event venues as well as the main Olympic Park. According to Bensch,
We are essentially able to put cameras and photographers where they have never been before, capturing images in ways they have never been captured.
For example, one of those ways includes a truss mount 30 meters high in a position that no Olympic photographer has been. As they say, the truly successful photo takes the right eye and timing, but those are certainly some tough robotic advantages to compete against.
via DeviceMag
London Olympics 2012
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad, also known informally as London 2012, are scheduled to take place in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July (when the opening ceremony is held) until 12 August 2012, although the first event begins on 25 July.
source:wikipedia
