The robot jockeys' beating heart
They weigh less than three kilos, wear colourful jackets and matching caps, they carry a whip in their right hand and a walkie-talkie in their pocket and they sit around in the sand.
At camel races they are indispensable: The robot jockeys.
Since in 2005 the use of child jockeys at camel races was made illegal in the UAE, the little robots sit on the camels' backs as
they career down race courses in the Middle East. They are not just safer, they are also a lot smaller, lighter and
cheaper than their human model. Their bones are made of aluminium rods bent into shape not too far from the race
course, but the beating heart underneath the bones has travelled
from afar. Well packed, in small suitcases, the hearts come from the US, Germany and Japan ... in the shape of small powerdrills.
At camel races they are indispensable: The robot jockeys.
Since in 2005 the use of child jockeys at camel races was made illegal in the UAE, the little robots sit on the camels' backs as
they career down race courses in the Middle East. They are not just safer, they are also a lot smaller, lighter and
cheaper than their human model. Their bones are made of aluminium rods bent into shape not too far from the race
course, but the beating heart underneath the bones has travelled
from afar. Well packed, in small suitcases, the hearts come from the US, Germany and Japan ... in the shape of small powerdrills.