World’s 1st robot ski competition takes place on sidelines of Winter Olympics

The Winter Olympics are here again, but humans skiing down a mountainside is apparently too mainstream for some. Many are turning to the alternative of watching robots hit the slopes.

Footage posted by RT's Ruptly agency showed robots dressed in ski suits, gripping their poles and coasting down the mountain in the slalom competition on Monday.



The Ski Robot Challenge was organized by South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in conjunction with the Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement. Eight teams from local universities and tech firms took part in the competition, according to The Korea Herald.

The challenge is the latest robot-focused activity to take place at the PyeongChang Olympics, after a humanoid robot called HUBO helped carry the torch in December.