Technology at the Olympics Opening Ceremony
What a show!
5,000 years of Chinese history, traditions, pageantry were on display. The world's best athletes in their national costumes. 80 heads of state.
But what brought it together was all the technology.
Such as the magical scroll that stretched 147 meters across the stadium and had 44,000 LED beads
The LED beads in the levitating Olympic Circles
the LED beads in the costumes
Digital Ignition system, safety and other systems to synch 40,000 firework shells across 30 locations in Beijing
The steel ropes and related precision technology that lifted fairies and astronauts and Li Ning as he did the "space walk" along the edge of the stadium to light the cauldron
62 lifting columns to elevate the stage area, 23 feet up with a weight of up to 600 tons including the large globe
The technology behind the cauldron
The Shenzou control system to manage all the moving parts - which is also used for Chinese space missions. Each of the performers had unique ID codes to allow for their LED lights to be controlled.
And lots more technology -Dispersal rockets to keep rain away from the stadium, others in my previous post about the complex systems integration at the Olympics and my other earlier posts on
Beijing's New Airport Terminal
See more photos of the Opening Ceremony in the Boston Globe's Big Picture New York Times Gizmodo Official Site of the Olympics and Xinhua galleries
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