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Camel racing robots. Honest.

By Gearhead, NetworkWorld.com, 04/21/05

Out there in the Gulf of Arabia there's a country called Qatar where one of the favorite sports is camel racing. But camel racing has a dark side which involves children being forced into being camel jockeys. According to uaeprison.com, a human rights group, the scale of child labor is staggering involving thousands of little kids:

Children, usually abducted or sold voluntarily from, where else, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to camel racing syndicate in the UAE. The weight of the jockey is crucial to the success of the venture, so young boys; even two year olds are imported! South Asian boys in particular are recruited because they tend to be the cheapest, weigh less and tend to scream louder at a higher pitch than most adults, causing camels to run faster.

So, in an effort to clean up their act government is introducing robotic jockeys ...

According to a news release by the Qatar News Agency:

Citing a recent decision issued by Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, deputy prime minister and minister of state for foreign, banning jockeys under 16 years of age from competing in camel races held in the country, Sheikh Sultan said: With the introduction of this law and the production of the first generation of robot jockeys in August this year, the UAE will have adhered to the international regulations governing camel-racing while at the same time preserving the traditional character of camel races as a popular local heritage.

And there's an upside to robots over kids for camel owners:

Unlike the human jockey, the robot is cheaper to maintain and would not have to undergo the same physical hardship that humans would. Some of the good qualities of the robot are that it is in the shape of the a human , lighter, small and could receive orders by remote control from a distance.

Those crazy Qataris -- they are all heart aren't they? We wonder what will happen to all the children when the robots are in place ...

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