Thursday, August 14, 2008

Beijing Olympics

We have had the TV on nonstop ever since the olympic games started. It sure is something to watch. I've been impressed by the amount of technology poured into making the games a successful attraction. The structure of the stadium is just gorgeous, and the Chinese have certainly made a nice marriage of engineering and aesthetics. There has also been a lot of effort put into designing modularity into the venues to extend their useful lifetime indefinitely. I think this is great engineering, as far as I can see on the surface. One other thing that I enjoy seeing on TV is the "robotic systems" that are being employed. It's fun to watch the underwater cameras that shuttle along the bottom of the pool and follow the swimmers. And it was brought to my attention recently (which I should have given more consideration before) that the Skycams used in the large stadiums all around the world are nothing other than a cable-suspended robot with a sophisticated control system. Brilliant stuff!