A MAN-MADE meteor shower as the center-piece of the opening ceremony is just one of the ways Tokyo is gearing up to produce the most high-tech Olympic Games to date in 2020.
According to the people at Futurism the budget for the Games is likely to come in at close to $18 billion with the event itself driving a host of new tech builds including automated taxis and that artificial meteor shower.
It will be provided by a Japanese astronomy start-up called Ale who plan to release a micro-satellite into space that will shoot out thousands of little spheres that will burn up and glow on on re-entry like a real meteorite shower.
Another innovation for 2020 is a plan by Panasonic to work on an instant translation device.
While there are 206 countries sending athletes to the Games, the device — which they hope can be worn around the next — will translate Japanese into 10 of the most widely spoken languages.
The same company is also planning an app that allows visitors to scan Japanese signs and translate them instantly.
It’s not unusual for Japan to use the Olympics to showcase tech developments.
During the 1964 Games in Tokyo, they introduced the Shinkansen Bullet Trains. By 2020, the next-generation will have a top speed of 600 kph, just a bit faster than Usain Bolt.
Read the other innovations they have planned here.
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Nice to see three Galway players in it. It would be great if they could emulate what Connacht have achieved in the city. That’s not to say Sligo haven’t done Connacht proud for a long time, just that it would be nice to give them some competition in the province too.