The Winter Olympics Games Beijing 2022 came to a close last Sunday. Relating to its success, many journalists and athletes have already voiced their comments during the Games. In general, what impressed them most was the use of many cutting-edge technologies, in particular robots. In order to minimize contact among people during the COVID-19 pandemic, robots were widely used in places like cafeterias and dining areas inside the Olympic village.

　　Robot chef

　　During the Olympics, machines and humans worked together in the 3680 square meter dining hall, specifically prepared for journalists. A troop of robots were set behind the glass, and they could automatically cook stir-fried dishes, noodles, or Western-style hamburgers and French fries for the visitors. Through scanning a QR code and inputting what to eat or drink and your seating location, dishes would be delivered to people sitting in socially-distanced cubicles via tracks on the ceiling, precisely when they are ready to eat.

　　The Mirror praised the fact that food prepared by machines served to reduce the people contact and bring, "a lower likelihood of athletes coming across someone who is carrying COVID."

　　NBC Chicago said that the robot meal service is like a scene out of a sci-fi movie. It not only makes people safer during the pandemic but also brings convenience. "The process is probably even more convenient than ordering from a human server at a restaurant," said an NBC report.

　　"I came here just to experience the intelligent meal preparation process, and I've been here four or five times. Each time I feel like I've just walked in a sci-fi movie," Czech reporter Thomas Budak said of the Olympic dining experience.

　　Robot bartender

　　Also in the medium dining center, a bartending robot, one of the most popular robots among journalists, demonstrated its skills. It could whip up juices and cocktails on request without asking for any tips from patrons.

　　In other areas, robots were also used to clean floors, check people's temperatures, and remind them to wear masks.

　　BBC reporter Anna Thompson encountered a sweeping robot in a lift. She thought that little robot had lost its way. "This little fellow joined me in the lift this morning but was a bit unsure which floor to get off on," she wrote.

　　Another BBC reporter Katie Falkingham is a fan of the coffee robot. She posted a video on Twitter, showing a robot making coffee and pouring the steaming brew into a cup. What surprised her most is the machine could even clean up the table afterward. "I need one of these at home," she wrote.

　　Why use Robots at Beijing 2022?

　　The Olympics should be a global event to allow athletes to perform at their peak, without the pandemic being a disrupting factor. As a key method to contain the pandemic, robots can effectively reduce the human workforce and protect people from COVID-19 through lack of contact. In other words, the fewer volunteers working inside the Olympic closed loop, the lower the risk of infection will increase after the Games.

　　"The [robot] installation comes amid organizers' efforts to minimize the risk of spreading COVID -19 at the Games," wrote USA Today.

　　Vesti.ru.com wrote that if China's pandemic prevention measures were not so strict and effective, the Winter Olympics would not have been held at all.

　　China is the first country to use robots on such a massive scale during an Olympics. Unlike other technologies such as Electric Vehicles, 5G and Livestreaming technology, Robotics technology is the easiest way for the world to witness tech improvement and its use at the Winter Olympics has given many people a glimpse of the future.