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Robots Ride Camels in Kuwait

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the camel-jewelry dept.

naken writes to tell us that Kuwait recently held its first regional camel race using robot jockeys. The change was made after human rights groups got child jockeys banned in Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE."

50 comments

  1. That's one small step for man... by BHennessy · · Score: 1

    ...one giant leap for mankind.

  2. They got it wrong... by DavidHOzAu · · Score: 5, Funny

    From the Article:
    child jockeys were banned from the lucrative sport following criticism by human rights groups.
    Great. If I'm under four and know how to ride a camel better than anyone else, I can't race. My rights have been infringed to protect human rights. Way to go, guys.

    1. Re:They got it wrong... by luvirini · · Score: 4, Informative
      The problem was that many kids were bought from their parents in other countries and brought for the races, maltreated with too little food and so on.. to be as low weight as possible.

      That was a horrible practice.

    2. Re:They got it wrong... by DavidHOzAu · · Score: 1

      Agreed. But for the kids who were genuine, were not kidnapped, etc., and wanted nothing more than be a camel racer when they were older, they are now left up the creek without a paddle.

      Perhaps they could have had more stringent entry requirements and proper inspections going on rather than banning the sport entirly.

    3. Re:They got it wrong... by DavidHOzAu · · Score: 1

      s/entirly/entirely

    4. Re:They got it wrong... by luvirini · · Score: 1

      When something is as broken as it was.. going to other things is hard. Also in most of there countries people would then just have ignored the restrictions and bribed/coerced the offcials or just gotten papers stating something.

    5. Re:They got it wrong... by Yst · · Score: 1

      Screw the children. Think of the robots! It's one thing to stick one, miniature meatbag on another, bigger meatbag and make him ride around on it. But making a finely tuned robot, a champion among his kind, clatter along on an ugly bag of mostly water merely for our amusement? Disgusting.

      --
      Karma: Chameleon (comes and goes)
    6. Re:They got it wrong... by denominateur · · Score: 1

      The problem see, is that when you're older (above the age of 6) you will be replaced because you're too heavy! There were hundreds of children injured in camel races and some of the injuries were fatal.

    7. Re:They got it wrong... by EnglishTim · · Score: 1

      Yes, I'm sure there's lots of three year olds out there weeping because they can no longer be sold into slavery, starved to keep them small and light, and then killed or mutilated for life by being trampled by a camel...

    8. Re:They got it wrong... by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      I think the larger problem is that this is a repost.

  3. Human rights? by Jack+Pirate · · Score: 1

    Honestly, I'm sure there are a number of human rights violations in the Middle East right now, but was this really one of them? It's a sport like any other. Are children in the US not going to be allowed to ride horses anymore? or play soccer or little league? Somehow I doubt the kids were being tortured, although their parents might have been the soccer-mom equivalents of Kuwait.

    1. Re:Human rights? by magefile · · Score: 2, Informative

      Wrong. These jockeys were slaves; beaten, starved, forced to throw up so they'd lose weight, etc. Horse racing in this case was not a sport for pleasure; it was a business, and the child jockeys were held hostage to the financial gain of their owners.

    2. Re:Human rights? by nursegirl · · Score: 3, Informative
      The issue is that human rights groups had found that the vast majority of these kids had been abducted from their families and put into forced slave labour on these camel farms. So yes, if US soccer teams start abducting kids to play little league, maybe the human rights groups should get involved.

      Particularly if they use electric shocks on kids if they don't do their work properly.

    3. Re:Human rights? by luvirini · · Score: 1

      Well.. mostly they were bought, not stolen from their parents.. but slave labor still... and misstreatlement included lack of food.

    4. Re:Human rights? by nursegirl · · Score: 3, Informative

      While the Unicef site does say bought, Asia Child Rights, the Bangladesh Human Rights Network and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights all agree that both happened pretty frequently. In fact, the organization I cited in the gp post got involved because of trying to track an abducted child from Pakistan who ended up in the UAE.

    5. Re:Human rights? by Shihar · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'm sorry, maybe I am late to the conversation, but are we arguing about wether it is better to be bought or abuducted into slavery?

    6. Re:Human rights? by luvirini · · Score: 1

      No, just the fact that in most cases there is no need to abduct... as they could just go buy the kids for $100-$300. Though also abductions happened.

    7. Re:Human rights? by Lord+Kano · · Score: 1

      In the middle east, this is not a recreational activity. It's a business. Children are exploited. They are undernourished and left uneducated.

      In the US children ride horses on weekends for fun.

      Somehow I doubt the kids were being tortured, although their parents might have been the soccer-mom equivalents of Kuwait.

      The severe beatings that some of the children endure certainly do qualify as torture.

      I don't know if you're a troll or just ignorant, but these children were being mistreated.

      LK

      --
      "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
    8. Re:Human rights? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I bet these owners are pissed off about the Danish cartoon of Muhammed.

  4. Dog-riding robots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With any luck, we shall soon be on our way to dog-riding robots! (scroll down to the essay)

    We just need to miniaturize this, make the robot look like Commander Data wearing a sombrero, and all will be well.

    1. Re:Dog-riding robots by Chris+Kamel · · Score: 1

      No, we're on our way to robots riding robots. When animal right groups intervene for the camels.

      --
      The following statement is true
      The preceding statement is false
  5. How odd... by Dr.+Eggman · · Score: 1

    I could have sworn CNN had a Reuters article on this very same thing over a year ago. Could anyone help prove me with a link?
    Maybe I'm just losing it...

    ...though some would argue I never had it in the first place.

    --
    Demented But Determined.
    1. Re:How odd... by smilingman · · Score: 4, Informative

      I could have sworn CNN had a Reuters article on this very same thing over a year ago. Could anyone help prove me with a link? Maybe I'm just losing it... ...though some would argue I never had it in the first place.

      You probably have seen it before, it's a dupe.

    2. Re:How odd... by DavidHOzAu · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You probably have seen it before, it's a dupe.
      Ladies and gentlemen, uh, we've just gone off topic, but what you've read so far speaks for itself. The innocent discussion has apparently been taken over - 'conquered' if you will - by an inferior race of photographic-memory slashdotters. It's difficult to tell at the moment whether they will troll the entire website or merely flame it.

      I am certainly not surprised: the prior article was in April last year; dupes will inevitably be here. And I, for one, will never welcome our photographic-memory overlords. I'd like to remind our editors that as an average slashdotter with common sense, I can be helpful in rounding up other idiots to languish in the off topic viewing range.

    3. Re:How odd... by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      I could have sworn CNN had a Reuters article on this very same thing over a year ago. Could anyone help prove me with a link? Maybe I'm just losing it...

      At least we know CNN has someone reading Technocrat.net looking for story ideas.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    4. Re:How odd... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It isn't a dupe. The old story was an article saying that there were plans for robo-jockeys next year (which is now) and this current article is different and tells us that the first actual race has been held.

  6. Yes, but... by Daedalus-Ubergeek · · Score: 1

    These camels actually have CO2 emissions and thus are not as good as hydrogen-fueled camels!

    1. Re:Yes, but... by HolyCrapSCOsux · · Score: 1

      They also produce methane.

      --
      0xB315AA8D852DCD3F3DCA578FD2E0BF88
  7. Wired News has an article about this... by antdude · · Score: 3, Informative

    See here.

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  8. Genderbots? by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    "The remote-operated robots are shaped like small boys."

    Why? Do they really need that much emulated gender anatomy? Just make them shaped like "small kids".

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:Genderbots? by TubeSteak · · Score: 1
      Why? Do they really need that much emulated gender anatomy?
      The camels would know the difference.

      Okay, just kidding.

      They're shaped like small 'boys', because camel jockeys have always been boys.

      Bonus Fact: The camels wouldn't accept the robotic jockeys until they had been shaped in a vaguely human fashion.
      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
    2. Re:Genderbots? by luvirini · · Score: 1

      The gender roles in the area are still quite clear.. would not do to have a "girl".

    3. Re:Genderbots? by Lord+Kano · · Score: 1

      Why? Do they really need that much emulated gender anatomy?

      Because it's Kuwait you dumb ass. In some parts of the world, gender still plays a big part in what role you fill in society.

      LK

      --
      "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
    4. Re:Genderbots? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I believe the difference is not adding the jumbly bits, but leaving out the curvy ones.

    5. Re:Genderbots? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      "The remote-operated robots are shaped like small boys."

      Why? Do they really need that much emulated gender anatomy?


      Yes! In addition to offering high performance both on and off the camel track the Camel-jockey-robot-boy has the finest emulated gender anatomy that modern science is capable of producing!

      Featuring:

      • Whip-it-good(TM) high performance riding crop actuator.
      • Two! Yes, that's right, two realistic orifices!*
      • 100% Hypoallergenic "real-feel" silicone compound construction.
      • Completely hygenic. Dishwasher safe.

      *Vibromatronic pulsematic actuator with user control available for an additional 30 dinars!

      Order yours today! You'll be glad you did!
    6. Re:Genderbots? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because their "owners" probably bugger them when they aren't racing.

  9. Re:obligatory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    in mother russia... and numerous porn sites...

  10. Better Article on same topic.... by Starker_Kull · · Score: 1

    ...although it's almost a year old. Nonetheless, it goes into the details a lot more.

    http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/robotics/2005-04 -19-qatar-camalbots_x.htm

    I remember it because I thought it was so bizzare, and because I had no idea there was a black market in young boys who were good camel jockeys. Weird.

  11. I split by Kurt+Russell · · Score: 2, Funny
    some acid with my girl in Mexico. A couple of pieces of blotter, I think it had the "freak brothers" on it. We tripped for hours in a little park in Matamoros watching a guy that had 3 monkeys riding dogs. It was fucking great, they were hauling ass screaming and jumping through hoops.

    Tiny robots on robot dogs would be cool. Damn, I feel like dropping a tab or two.

  12. No laughing matter by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 2, Informative

    I happen to do a lot of translation work for a French agency that raises funds to finance organisations that combat child abuse. They do so by establishing full-blown infrastructures to attack the reasons why kids are vulnerable in the first place, as well as setting up rehabilitation programmes for rescued kids who are traumatised for life.
    Their grant applications, notably to the European Union, go into all the sordid details about trafficking in children. In Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, tens of thousands of children every year are abducted into one form of slavery or another. There is a cross border traffic in both directions, with for example lots of Afghan refugee children undergoing similar ignomy. The camel jockeys are a particularly bad example because the kids are deliberately starved.

    If Kuwait is going to fall into line that's good news, but it's really only the tip iceberg. For a start it's not the biggest market for these kids - the United Arab Emirates is huge in comparison.
    And the traffic in camel jockeys is just a small part of the overall children's rights problem. If I told you about some of the other sordid things that kids have to undergo believe me it would make your skin crawl.

    It's absolutley no laughing matter.

    --
    No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
  13. I for one welcome by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    our new camel-riding overl...

    THUD!

    Flop, bleeeeed.

    Draaaaaaaaag.

    Dump.

  14. WIRED article by __aahrlq8808 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    A WIRED article gave a 3-page writeup of the Swiss team developing the robots in November.

  15. Re:obligatory by McWilde · · Score: 0

    Hmm, the first thing that I thought when I read the headline was "in Korea, only old people ride camels."

    --
    Maybe
  16. Great headline by mikeage · · Score: 0

    but what about the other versions,

    In Soviet Russia, Camel rides you.

    In Korea, only old robots ride camels.

    In Planet of the Clams, lobster is slave to clam...

    --
    -- Is "Sig" copyrighted by www.sig.com?
    1. Re:Great headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I for one welcome our new camel-riding robot overlords.

  17. I heard that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/ 11/1237211

  18. I object to this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...slavery of machines for camel races. Robot's rights are getting infringed. Boo! I say, boo! Machine rights now! Machine rights now! Machine rights now! Machine rights now! ...so on and so on.

    Discuss.

  19. The real reason they're boys... by PornMaster · · Score: 2, Funny

    It was to increase the bidding between the Catholic Church and Michael Jackson.

    --
    500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo