These are the buoys that have been used to mark the distances to be covered in nautical competitions. For the first time at the Olympics, robotic buoys have been used that do not need to be anchored to the seabed.
Until now, when races were held at sea, the course was marked with buoys anchored to the seabed to ensure that they did not move, and when the type of race was changed, it was necessary to release them from the seabed, to take them to a new location, and re-attach them to the seabed. This is what has been done for decades.
And that has also changed forever with the help of robotics. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, robotic buoys have been used that autonomously maintain the GPS position that has been introduced to them, by means of small motors with propellers that they have at their base, without having to anchor them to the bottom of the sea.
In this way, at the end of a regatta they can be changed very quickly from one position to another, without having to release them from a ballast on the bottom of the sea; and in a few minutes they are in their new position to be used again. It is an advance that provides a lot of flexibility to regatta organizers.
A video can be seen at: https://youtu.be/457rniOb7CM
It is another example of how robotics is introduced into almost all the activities of our lives.
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