Competition has, for the most part of history, been the catalyst for advancement in all facets of human life. Consider the long and arduous history of war that has been most definitive of human nature and one can easily see the technological advancements that have either been a direct product, or some derivative of man’s fundamental competitive (or some may say selfish) spirit. In what we consider to be modern times, where unbridled violence is frowned upon by civilized folks, the competitive spirit remains just as strong, and perhaps its most obvious outlet is through competitive sporting.
And of course, when it comes to the pinnacle of competitive sports performance, nothing rivals the Olympics. From an engineering and design perspective, the Olympics has catalyzed technological development over the years. It’s a fitting subject matter at this time, seeing how a lot of us are anticipating the upcoming Winter Games to be all kinds of awesome.
When we think of the Olympics today, we recall the architecture that is such a huge focus in every game. From a Civil Engineering standpoint, many Olympic stadium constructions utilized leading construction methods of the time, and the projects were performed under tight time constraints. Recall the ‘Bird’s Nest’ of the 2008 Beijing Olympics? The sheer speed with which the huge steel girdles were erected was pretty amazing in itself. What’s even more amazing is that the Engineers managed to shave off 13% of the steel used mid-design and save costs by a considerable amount. Other challenging construction projects for the Olympics can also include the Munich Games in 1972. Despite being remembered for the terrorist violence, any architect worth his salt will recall the futuristic acrylic domes suspended by strategically placed steel cables. In fact, it seems that as soon as this technical masterpiece was built, all subsequent Olympic cities followed suit and engineered their own very geometric buildings. Utilizing the forefront of the day’s building methods and design ideologies, the Olympics are a prime example of applied Architectural Engineering
Apart from the architectural development that can be seen from the Olympics, the evolution of sporting equipment can be a genuine case study in design evolution. Remember Phelp’s shark suit? A perfect example of bio-mechanical engineering, it’s been one of the most hyped, high-tech sporting technologies to date. Dubbed the FASTSKIN, it featured microscopic scales that act like a shark’s skin to reduce drag. The suit’s manufacturing process, though touted to be top-secret, is conceivably a technical challenge in many aspects. Not many people know about the extensive computer modelling that goes on behind the scenes when making one of these suits; since each and every suit has to be custom fitted for optimum performance for the particular wearer, who has unique body features and hence hydrodynamics. Therefore, the design task of coming up with each suit is an extensive parametric-optimization exercise.
Any other sport that requires the use of equipment can be considered a haven for identifying new mechanical and manufacturing innovations. Much of the technologies often trickle down to the common consumers in time. Take for example the first carbon-fibre time trial bikes that appeared in the early nineties. Chris Boardman’s Olympic cycling time-trial victory on the then state of the art carbon fibre monocoque Lotus Type 108 during the 1992 Barcelona Games can justifiably be considered to be a key turning point in the biking industry, which shifted focus from the idea that high-performance machines are generally made from unique steel tubing to a focus on composite materials. In fact, since the inception of composite technology in the Olympic cycling events all those years ago, carbon fibre and other high-end plastics are being used at an ever increasing rate in today’s high end bikes available to the common consumer. In fact, some of these machines aren’t that expensive at all, with many models on offer today by popular makers for under a grand.
So what are some of the technological points-of-interest the winter games here in Canada? For starters, even that national quirk of a sport curling is utilizing a wide array of integrative technological tools to improve the team’s performance. State of the art motion capture technology is utilized to fine tune the players’ posture and technique so as to maximize their performance on-field.
Another little engineering gem to note this time round is the torch cam, which is designed to broadcast images from first-person perspective of the bearer. Current limitations in video transmission technology means that the transmission point must either be stationary or, as in the case of live-video feeds from helicopters, the transmission device is of considerable size. With this new implementation, a multitude of cell-phone signal networks are utilized simultaneously alongside Wi-Fi transmission when in a hotspot to ensure continued and uninterrupted video input from the mobile torchbearer. This new development is a fresh perspective on live-video transmission, and it’ll be interesting to see what future developments will occur for this technology.
And lastly, our speed skaters are utilizing a huge treadmill that can accelerate up to 60km/hr to help build on their technique. In a sport where the time difference between 1st and 2nd place is often measured in milliseconds (the difference in the Women’s Gold and Silver timings for the 2006 Torino Winter Games was a mere 21 milliseconds), this disciplined and highly scientific approach that utilises these technologies seem to be the one and only way to maximize an athlete’s edge over his or her competitors.
It’ll be an interesting Olympics to watch, not just for the fact that its right here in Canada or just for the fact that we get to see our favourite sporting heroes (hopefully) beat their lesser rivals, but also because there’s much to observe from a technological standpoint. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled!
Leave a Reply