Olympics

Toyota has confirmed that its e-Palette people mover will be autonomously transporting athletes throughout the Olympic and Paralympic villages.

One year out from the Tokyo games Japan has unveiled its Olympic medals, which will adorn winning athletes in metals recycled from discarded gadgets. Tons of scrap metal was recovered from small electronics collected all over the country for the initiative.

Back in March, the first Tokyo 2020 Robot Project helpers were revealed. Now Toyota has pulled back the curtain on its full line-up, with mascot bots, full-sized humanoids and field support bots joining the delivery and human support robots already announced.

The International Olympic Committee recently received a new headquarters in Switzerland, courtesy of 3XN. Featuring an eye-catching glazed facade, the building boasts significant sustainable design, including rainwater collection, solar panels, and the use of recycled materials.

The Organising Committee for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo has revealed the first Tokyo 2020 Robot Project helpers, which will assist spectators in wheelchairs to ensure they have "an experience they are unlikely to forget."​

Trial, the fine art of hopping impossible obstacles on a motorcycle without ever touching a boot down, welcomed an electric class in 2017. After a timid start under world championship banners, the Trial-E Cup has been proposed for the additional sports’ shortlist of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

​Electronic waste can be quite valuable, and there have been a number of projects aimed at recovering precious metals from e-trash. Now it appears that Olympic winners in 2020 will be awarded medals made from smashed up phones and cameras.​

​Back in 2014, the “blackest” material ever produced was revealed. Dubbed Vantablack, this material absorbed 99.96 percent of light that hit it. Now designer Asif Khan has created a stunning pavilion spray-painted with Vantablack for the Winter Olympics.

​Security researchers from Cisco’s Talos intelligence team have analyzed samples of the malware​ directed at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony and verified that a cyber-attack did occur and was aimed at disrupting the event.

Intel's Shooting Star drones are starting to change the game when it comes to spectacular light shows. For their latest outing, the diminutive aircraft were shown forming snowboarders and iconic rings for the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

In what may be a preview of the future of athletics, Hubo, a humanoid robot, carried the Olympic torch in Daejeon, South Korea as part of the relay leading up to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The robot had to perform a disaster rescue operation to hand off the torch to the next runner.

​Toyota is investing 40 million yen (US$354,000) in SkyDrive, a drone-like compact flying car designed by a group of Toyota employees in their spare time. The goal is to have the vehicle ready to go in time to light the torch at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo games.