Friday Five: February 12

The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics has been a blistering competition in sports, and technology. Autonomous cars and buses shuttle people around the city, 5G made its debut, and robots try slalom.

The technology behind the Opening Ceremony’s record-setting drone show (NBC)

Last week at the Olympic opening ceremony, Intel was able to make 1,218 drones fly simultaneously. Intel, a Bay Area-based company, was able to create images of a dove, a snowboarder, and the Olympic rings.

5G is making its global debut at Olympics, and it’s Wicked Fast. (Bloomberg)

5G is scheduled to come out in 2020, but it’s on display at this years Olympics. The blisteringly quick 10 gigabits a second speed is 100 times faster than a 4G network and can download a movie in seconds.

How Team USA used 3D printing to build a better luge (TechCrunch)

3D-printed sleds may become the norm at the 2022 Beijing Olympic games. Stratasys, an industrial-3D-printing giant, was approached at IMTS by two former members of the team looking for leg up on the competition. Stratasys was able to make more sleds at a cheaper price.

Pyeongchang Olympics showcases Korean self-driving vehicles. (New York Times)

“There's a competition at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics that has nothing to do with sports”. For months Hyundai and KT Corp. haggled for the exclusive right to label their vehicle “autonomous”. Both companies reached an agreement where Hyundai would make cars, and KT Corp. would make buses.

Robot skiers tackle Olympic challenge in South Korea (The Guardian)

In an attempt to win $10,000, teams competed in designing a robot that could complete a slalom course. The event attracted eight teams from universities, institutes, and private companies, which each created a robot that met certain criteria.