When camel racing with robot jockeys became a hit in Jordan

Racing has tech-jockeys, as earlier humans used to be riders but now robots are controlled and directed through voice commands of the owner.

Wadi Rum: Forget humans controlling animals. Technology has stepped in and replaced humans when it comes to manning the races, especially camel race. Yes, you heard it right. For the last few years, the camel race -- a popular sport in the Arab world -- was handled by robots.

In late July, Jordan kicked off its camel racing season in Wadi Rum much to everybody's surprise has tech-jockeys. The robots controlled and directed the camels through voice commands of the owner. Robots are lighter than humans and save the camel from having heavyweight.

Sharing a strategy of using robot jockeys, a camel owner, Mordi Atallah Zawaideh said, "When you are the first, the second or the third, you wait for the last kilometre and then start whipping the camel on the last kilometre."

The price of a good running camel can be as much as 70,000 US dollars.

Abudhabi's Sheikh Zayed Stadium hosts several races ranging from 1 to 3 kilometres long, divided into age categories.

Participants from countries like Egypt, Sudan, the UAE and Jordan will gather in Saudi's Taef on August 28 for the race.

Six winning camels from Jordan would qualify for Saudi's race.

Camel racing is a popular sport in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Mongolia, Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Australia.

According to the Guinness World Records, the largest camel race involved 1,108 participants and was achieved by the Administrative Office of the Governor of Umnogovi, Mongolia, in Dalanzadgad city on 7 March 2016.

The race was just over 15 km long with the fastest finishing in 35 min 12 sec and the whole race completed in 1 hr 8 min. The race was organized to increase the population of domestic Bactrian camels in Mongolia.