Although the postponement of the Olympics and the empty stadiums have caused heavy economic losses to the host country Japan, and the problem of epidemic prevention and control is still unresolved, Japan still took out its own "three magic weapons" in this Tokyo Olympics.

In addition to the world-famous comics industry, the two keywords "technology" and "environmental protection" have become important channels for conveying Japan's voice.

From hydrogen-powered electric vehicles to corrugated cardboard beds; from power-assisted exoskeleton equipment to Olympic medals made of electronic waste; from 3D athlete tracking technology to recyclable wooden board structures...

The Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee went to such great lengths just to convey a message-this is an Olympic Games full of technology and environmental protection themes.

Technology, all robots

As early as the preparation stage of the Tokyo Olympics, Masaaki Furumiya, deputy secretary-general of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee, said: "We hope that this Olympic Games will be the most innovative in the history of using new technologies."

To this end, the Tokyo Olympics has made a series of efforts, all of which are aimed at reflecting the sense of the future in this era generally defined as "cyberpunk" by the science fiction world.

In early 2019, the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee and other institutions released the "2020 Tokyo Olympic Games Robot Plan". It showcases a number of robot products planned to serve the Tokyo Olympics, including "delivery support robots", "human support robots" and power-assisted exoskeleton equipment.

The power-assisted exoskeleton equipment, which looks like a backpack, can greatly reduce the burden on the waist of manual laborers, and can reduce the burden on waist muscles by up to about 40%. This equipment will be used to carry athletes' luggage at the Tokyo Olympics.

Even, the Tokyo Olympics has set the image of the mascot as a pair of futuristic robots.

At that time, Masaaki Furumiya said: "Robots will help people participate in the Olympics and improve their experience."

In addition to robot assistance, an artificial intelligence facial recognition system will be used during the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. The system will be used to identify more than 300,000 people participating in the Olympics, including athletes, volunteers, media and other staff. This is also the first time that facial recognition technology has been used at the Olympics.

Technology also plays a vital role in the presentation of athlete performance.

According to Japan's NHK, the International Gymnastics Federation has decided to introduce a scoring assistance system using AI technology. The system tracks the athlete's movements by projecting infrared rays to 2 million points on the athlete's body and its surroundings, and converts them into three-dimensional images in real time.

Based on the image, AI analyzes the body's rotation and twisting movements, combines past performance data, and follows the scoring standards to judge the completion of the technology.

In track and field competitions, broadcasts will use 3D athlete tracking technology. In this way, a colored track can appear behind the athlete in the broadcast screen, showing the speed at different positions on the track.

This new broadcasting method will allow the audience to better appreciate the performance of the athletes.

In the case that the audience cannot enter the venue, the International Olympic Committee will try to play the videos posted by the audience at the competition venue, and consider introducing a system that can transmit the sound of the audience applauding while watching the game.

International Olympic Committee President Bach hopes to use this system to "make the athletes feel as if they are surrounded by the audience."

Environmental protection, not just cardboard beds

At the same time, the Tokyo Olympics pays more attention to the concept of environmental protection. At the beginning of the preparations, the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee announced that it would take the "3R" concept of "Reduce", "Reuse" and "Recycle" as one of the leading concepts of the Olympics.

Among them, the most familiar one is naturally the cardboard bed that was hotly discussed some time ago-according to reports, the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee provided 18,000 sets of cardboard beds and bedding in the Olympic Village.

These beds are made of recycled materials and look like "paper boxes" when put together. This is the first time in the history of the Olympics.

The mattresses are made of polyethylene, and the hardness of the mattresses can be changed according to the body shape of the athletes. After the Olympics, they can be recycled to make other plastic products.

In addition to cardboard beds, hydrogen energy has also been widely used in the Tokyo Olympics.

Among them, all 5,632 households in the Tokyo Olympics use a fuel cell that uses hydrogen energy, and the commercial facilities in the block also use pure hydrogen fuel cells. This is the first time that Japan has widely promoted the use of hydrogen energy in new blocks.

During the process of this torch relay, some areas use hydrogen as the fuel for the torch. This will be the first time in the history of the Olympics that the main torch uses fuel that does not emit carbon dioxide.

In addition, the medals of the Japanese Olympics are also recycled products. It is reported that the medals of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics are cast from recycled metals from used mobile phones and electrical appliances donated by the public.

The relevant person in charge of the Japanese Olympic Committee said in an interview that it took them about two years to make the Olympic medals starting from April 2017. Through hard work, they collected about 78,985 tons of small household appliances and 6.21 million old mobile phones, and made full use of new technologies to extract nearly 32 kilograms of pure gold, 3,500 kilograms of pure silver and 2,200 kilograms of pure copper.

The various buildings in the Olympic Village are made of wood. After the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, they will be dismantled and transported back to their "hometown" for reuse.

Even the podium and torch of this Olympic Games are made of environmentally friendly materials.

The materials used to make the podium are made of discarded detergent bottles and recycled plastics from recycled marine plastic waste. After processing them into blue particles, fixed modules are printed out with a 3D printer, and the podium can be created after assembly.

Yuki Arata, Senior Director of Sustainability at the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee, said: "We believe that by fully demonstrating our emphasis on sustainability during the Olympic Games, the participating athletes and those watching the games through broadcasts will realize the importance of sustainability, and hopefully motivate them to take action."

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