Intel planned for an ornate light display involving drones at the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang on Friday, but the company had some trouble getting its show off the ground.
According to a news release from Intel, 1,218 “Shooting Star” drones were used to create a light show featuring the Olympic rings and representations of various sports and athletes. The number of drones was also said to set the Guinness World Record for “most unmanned aerial vehicles airborne simultaneously,” That show, however, was pre-recorded and then televised on tape delay.
“During the Ceremony, POCOG made the decision to not go ahead with the show because there were too many spectators standing in the area where the live drone show was supposed to take place,” according to a statement from the Olympic organizing committee, Recode reported.
“Due to impromptu logistical changes it did not proceed,” an IOC spokesman told Reuters with elaborating further.
Intel earlier in the day was scheduled to send 300 of its LED-equipped Shooting Stars — the company was asked to reduce the size of its fleet for the live show — about hundreds of feet above Pyeongchang to create a number of image, according to USA Today. However, an issue prevented the live show from ever taking flight.
“The planning was very intense, and we had to send teams on the ground very early,” Intel’s chief strategy officer, Aicha Evans, told the newspaper before word came that the live show had been scrapped. “We knew we’d need to understand the wind — it’s very windy up here, and we had to understand the impact of the (cold) temperature. So, we practiced.”
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One of those practice runs, in December, presumably involved the record-setting 1,218 drones. That successful show was what U.S. viewers saw Friday night on NBC’s delayed broadcast of the opening ceremony. The athletes, dignitaries, and spectators at the stadium in Pyeongchang never got to see the drone show.
“We are honored to have Intel drones playing several roles at the Olympic Games,” Anil Nanduri, the VP and general manager of Intel Drone Group, said in a statement. “Not unlike the athletes competing in the events, we continue to push to innovate and develop the drone technologies that inspire people all over the world.”
Reuters reported that some technological systems at the Olympic site were “disrupted” and that a group of Olympic organizers and security experts was investigating if hackers could have been involved. It was unclear whether the logistical changes that sidelined the drone show was due to these systems issues.
Though Intel’s plans for a live show didn’t go off without a hitch this time around, NBC’s viewers were able to see a majestic display of lights similar to the 500-drone show those tuning into FOX saw during Super Bowl LI in 2017.
“It’s in essence technology meeting art,” Nanduri told Wired.