More than 1,200 drones were on display at the opening ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea—and they delivered an outstanding performance.
Greg Hogben, author of the book My Daughter’s Army, on Friday published video of the drones in concert. The video kicks off with drones, against the night sky, lighting up in the form of a snowboarder. The drones then disperse and quickly transform into Olympics rings as they fly through the sky. The drone performance hasn’t aired yet in the U.S. Because of time zone differences. It’ll air Friday night in primetime at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
The drone performance was put on by Intel, which has been delivering similarly impressive drone-based light performances over the last few years. According to Wired, which earlier reported on the performance, 1,218 drones were flying at the same time—a record for any drone show. The drones themselves were just a foot long and weighed eight ounces, but thanks to Intel’s Shooting Star service, which controls the drones in unison, more than a thousand can take to the sky to create visual experiences.
1218 drones assemble into a snowboarder then morph into the Olympic rings. Amazing.#WinterOlympics#OpeningCeremony pic.twitter.com/6LUwVHxaBM
— Greg Hogben (@MyDaughtersArmy) February 9, 2018
As impressive as the drone performance might be, Intel isn’t done. According to Wired, which talked to the company about its performance, Intel will produce live drone shows throughout the Olympics and will have nightly shows during medal ceremonies.
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Not surprisingly, the drone performance required a significant amount of preparation. Intel told Wired that it needed to use an actual snowboarded in position to ensure the drones were properly configured to resemble the athlete in the sky.
And because the drones rely on lithium-ion batteries that don’t always do well in the bitter cold during PyeongChang winters, Intel (INTC) tested the drones in Finland to evaluate their performance under similar conditions.
The preparation worked: the opening ceremony reportedly went off without a hitch.
