[ti:Olympic Ready? Robot Skiers Compete in South Korea] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.00]As the world's top athletes competed at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, [00:06.81]some robots also showed off their winter sports skills. [00:13.68]A ski race involving robots was held recently [00:19.25]at the Welli Hilli Park ski area near Pyeongchang. [00:25.23]Eight teams built and programmed the robots to compete [00:31.21]in the Ski Robot Challenge for a chance to win a $10,000 prize. [00:38.47]The robots came in different shapes and sizes. [00:44.17]The rules, however, required them to have the basic form of a human. [00:51.67]They needed to be able to stand on two "legs," [00:55.87]with joints similar to elbows and knees. [01:00.70]They also had to be at least 50 centimeters tall. [01:06.35]In addition, each robot had to have an independent power system [01:13.24]and use the same skis and poles that people do. [01:19.02]A Facebook page for the competition listed the robot names [01:25.18]and described details of how they were built. [01:29.62]Some of the racers looked very human-like, [01:34.92]complete with winter clothes covering their mechanical bodies. [01:40.88]Others rode down the hill with nothing covering their shiny, high-tech parts. [01:48.06]Some racers were tall, others short. [01:53.00]Some did not have heads. [01:55.51]The robots - equipped with cameras and sensors - [02:01.20]used artificial intelligence, or AI, [02:05.59]to move through the Olympic-style race course. [02:10.48]The winner was the robot that made it down the hill fastest, [02:16.59]with the lowest number crashes or collisions with course obstacles. [02:23.07]Winning that top honor was the TaekwonV robot, [02:29.62]built by South Korean robotics company Minirobot. [02:35.53]TaekwonV – named after a South Korean film character [02:41.25]– skied around five obstacles before finishing the course in 18 seconds. [02:48.59]On the day of the competition, [02:51.65]high winds forced some of the Olympic skiing events to be delayed. [02:57.81]One member of the winning team, Lee Sok-min, [03:03.30]said he was sorry to hear about the Olympic weather problems. [03:08.00]But he added, "The robots are doing fine here." [03:12.88]Videos of the robotic race clearly showed some of the robots [03:19.94]having trouble staying up on the skis and navigating the course. [03:25.84]But several watchers of the event said they found the race an interesting way [03:32.27]to show off some of the latest human-like robots. [03:37.52]"I'm amazed that the robots recognize the flags as they can ski down [03:44.94]while avoiding them," 12-year-old Son Ki-ryong told Reuters. [03:51.47]The organizer of the race, Kim Dong-Uk, [03:51.62]said he hopes the event will be the start of something much bigger. [04:02.78]"I think in the future, robots will have their own Winter Games [04:08.39]on the sidelines of the Olympics held by humans," he said. [04:13.85]He added that until then, he will keep holding international events [04:20.78]to show off South Korea's robotic technology to the world. [04:27.38]South Korea is one of several Asian nations heavily investing in robotics, [04:34.72]AI and machine learning technology. [04:39.19]Major developers include electronics giants Samsung and LG. [04:47.37]Japan and Singapore also have growing robotics industries. [04:54.39]But Asia's largest robotics developer by far is China, [05:01.34]which set a goal to become the world leader over the next decade. [05:07.12]The goal is part of the government's "Made in China 2025" plan, [05:13.88]which seeks to change many industries with the use of technology. [05:20.13]One of the country's most active AI developers is Chinese online seller Alibaba. [05:29.29]The company recently announced an AI-powered learning tool it developed [05:35.54]performed better than human beings in a high-level test of reading comprehension. [05:43.98]I'm Bryan Lynn. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM