Rio Olympics was not only the playground for world’s elite athletes, but also a prime platform to showcase new techs. This article talks about some of the amazing tech innovations that hit the sporting extravaganza.
Nike Aeroblades
Nike’s AeroBlades are made to develop placement instructions for athletes, from sprinters to marathon runners, with a goal of helping them cross the finish line faster.
Hykso Punch-Tracking Sensors
Fighters place lightweight sensors under the tape on their wrists, which sends data to a mobile app, calculating the number of punches, measure intensity and velocity.
Augmented Reality Glasses: Solos
Intended for training cyclists to check their vital signs and boost performance mid-ride, Solos smart glasses provide an augmented reality view of all the information, ‘heads up & hands free’.
Omega Underwater Lap Counters
Installed at the bottom of each lane, the counters update every time a swimmer touches a pad on the wall. The numbers are visible to swimmers without requiring them to look up from the water, eliminating human errors if any.
Visa Payment Wearables
Visa teamed up with Brazilian bank Bradesco to create a bracelet that allows spectators at the Games to pay for things by waving an arm over a sensor. It’s pretty similar to the likes of Apple Pay & Google Pay.
Security Balloons
There were four high-tech 40-pound balloons each with 13 high-res cameras affixed to them. All cameras combined were capable of capturing three photos of the surrounding area per second, with each balloon covering about 55 square miles.
VR Contents
Olympic Broadcasting Services, NBC and Samsung came together to stream 85 hours of the games’ coverage in virtual reality. All events including the opening and closing ceremonies, men’s basketball, gymnastics, track and field, beach volleyball, diving, boxing and fencing are all being made accessible in VR for anyone with a Samsung Galaxy smart phone and a Samsung Gear VR headset via the NBC Sports app.
There are no dreams too large, no innovation unimaginable and no frontier beyond our reach. It only needs a big occasion like the Olympics to paint your dreams.
Share your experiences from the recently concluded mega-event. And what more would you like to see at Tokyo in 4 years? We’d love to hear from you.
