Wukesong Ice Sports Center turns itself into a smart competition arena for Beijing 2022

The Wukesong Ice Sports Center in Beijing, the ice hockey competition venue for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, has adopted bullet-time technologies in its bid to offer technology-driven sporting events in 2022.

Photo shows cameras installed around the competition venue in the Wukesong Ice Sports Center in Beijing. (People’s Daily Online/Hu Xuerong)

From Nov. 7 and 10, the “Experience Beijing” ice hockey test event was held at the center, giving athletes a glimpse of the advanced technologies that will underpin the games while testing their capacity to serve the games’ needs.

In the Wukesong arena, 60 cameras can be seen installed around the competition venue, with these cameras capable of simultaneously shooting video from different angles and enabling the audience to choose the best angle to appreciate the games.

“5G-based broadcasting innovates the traditional broadcasting model, with multi-channel video signals transmitted through 5G and with other technologies enabling users to watch the games through their mobile phones, on TVs and through VR live streaming,” said Yuan Yinghui, broadcasting manager at the Wukesong Ice Sports Center. Furthermore, QR codes will be provided for the audience to interact and enjoy watching the games at a distance.

To strengthen epidemic prevention, a checkpoint was established at the entrance of the Wukesong arena. After checking staff members’ temperatures and scanning their QR codes, the checkpoint will send their health, travel and vaccination records to a terminal. This process takes only two seconds.

A robot seen inside the Wukesong Ice Sports Center is used to disinfect the arena. (People’s Daily Online/Hu Xuerong)

Inside the arena, two robots, one to disinfect the arena and one to provide hand sanitizer and remind people to wear a mask, were deployed for the test event. The disinfection robot can sterilize an area of 36 square meters in one minute.

During the test event, the Wukesong Sports Center was divided into two parts, including an inner section and an outer section, with the two sections being separated from each other. General materials, documents and other items needed by the staff in the inner section were transported by logistics robots via smart delivery and collection cabins in a contactless manner.

There was also a buffer zone between the two sections where the logistics robots worked, said Zhang Fan, logistics manager of the Wukesong Sports Center. Each logistics robot was able to carry 30 to 300 kilograms of cargos, and they could deliver the cargo within the venue without any contact with the senders and receivers.