Robots compete with child jockeys in Egyptian camel races

Mohamed Mostafa, a Bedouin breeder, fixes a robot jockey on his camel before the 18th International Camel Racing festival at the Sarabium desert in Ismailia, Egypt, March 12, 2019. Picture taken March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

ISMAILIA, Egypt: Remote-controlled robot jockeys lined up at a major camel racing festival in northeastern Egypt, as owners came under pressure from campaigns to stop using child riders.

Organisers fielded around 20 robots – child-sized devices with a whipping arm that can be triggered at a distance – alongside dozens of real children as part of a trial run.