Robot Jockeys
Camels, the iconic image of the Middle East, were the way most people got around in the Persian Gulf until they were largely replaced by the automobile. Informal camel races have been part of Bedouin culture for centuries. In the 1960s, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia endorsed camel racing as a way to maintain this rich heritage, and the first organized camel race took place in Saudi Arabia in 1964.
As the sport spread, it became more sophisticated and competitive, modeled after thoroughbred horse racing."Camels are in the same stage as horses," Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum once told Saudi Aramco World magazine. "The only thing keeping them surviving is racing, which gives them a modern value. And it gives them a future."
In less than a decade, camel racing became a well-established sport in the UAE and throughout the Gulf, and races were generally held on Fridays over a three-month winter season. In late February or early March, the season culminated with big meets in Abu Dhabi and Dubai that featured special races for top camels. Because betting is frowned upon by Muslims, most attendees watch the races for sport of it or to receive door prizes at the racetracks.
In the early years, Bedouin children served as camel jockeys, but later boys were hired from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan and other nations where camel riding is common. Efforts to regulate the employment of children as camel jockeys began as early as 1992, but the practice didn't end until 2005 when the UAE banned entirely the use of children in camel racing. The government turned to technology to ensure that the problem did not resurface. The answer: robot jockeys.
The robot jockey is basically a box with a battery, a walkie-talkie and a remote switch, like one used to lock a car, which controls a whip on a rotary arm. Camel trainers operating remote control devices ride in vehicles alongside the racetracks
Robot jockeys have been embraced warmly by camel owners and have added a new level of excitement to the races, offering race-goers an unusual mix of "Star Wars" meets "Lawrence of Arabia." "Now, the four-kilogram robot jockey allows the camel more speed and better stamina," said Lt. Colonel Nasser Al Awadhi Al Minhali, Abu Dhabi's director of Naturalization and Residency Department.
The UAE's robot jockey program may represent the first time that a government has used technology to address a serious human rights problem. The UAE and UNICEF's comprehensive international effort to end the use of children employed as camel jockeys and provide social support in their home countries is one of the few bright spots in the world's efforts to combat child labor because it has both removed the demand for the child workers and focused on ways to empower the former jockeys in their home countries.
