One big tech innovation that has caught my eye at the 2026 Winter Olympics is the use of drones chasing skiers and other athletes down the slopes, ski jumps and bobsled runs.
When watching from home on TV, I hear a high pitched drone buzz and see the shadow of a batlike drone or the actual drone from the view of another camera angle. NBC posted online a short description by a drone operator who said he has operated such drones for athletic events for four years and has become skilled at following a skier in a downhill run based on the track they take from practice runs. But when a skier misses a gate, he said, that requires a quick maneuver to stay clear. What’s also clear is that drone operators are also athletes. Operators can pilot from a belt contraption or even from a nearby truck.
No doubt, the drone shots are amazing, watching a skilled move from just behind a world-class athlete, chasing and moving along at 70 mph to boot. Sometimes the view moves to just in front of an athlete. The coolest angle for me is watching the ski jumpers soar aloft from just behind, an obvious improvement from a stationary camera on the side. There’s no question the drones just behind the luge athletes help dramatically show off their amazing speed and uncanny precision as they defy gravity while scaling the icy walls of the luge run.
Popular Science reported there are 10 traditional quadcopters and more than two dozen first-person-view drones at this year’s Olympics being maintained by the Olympics Broadcasting Services and each operated by a three-person team. The smaller models weigh less than one pound.
The new form of visual storytelling may be the most obvious impact of sensors at the Olympics, as consumer models usually include up to 10 sensors and professional drones can feature 100 or more sensors for advanced navigation, obstacle avoidance and specialized data collection. These sensors are grouped under IMUs (accelerometers and gyroscopes), GPS, barometers and vision/infrared sensors for stability and mapping.
One of the most-read stories on Fierce Sensors for many years first appeared in 2016 and remains mostly current. Written by a guest contributor, the story, “How many sensors are in a drone, and what do they do?” describes how the various sensors contribute to drone motion.
While the drone cameras offer an immersive experience for fans at home, some competitors have worried they could prove distracting or become safety risks. Drones have crashed during prior competitions, rarely. The BBC reported one drone crash-landed in the first downhill skiing training session at this year’s Olympics and left debris on the course. US snowboarder Bea Kim told the Washington Post: “I think that might just be because the people who are flying them are somewhere else and they don’t realize how close they are.”
Milano Cortino Olympics Sports Direct Anna Riccardi told Reuters that officials tested the drones before competitions and listened to athletes’ concerns “so that the impact would not affect their performances, would not bother them in any way.” So far, no formal complaints, she added five days into the event.
Crossover cold chain drone industry application: Corvus Robotics announced on Feb. 9 Corvis One for Cold Chain, an autonomous inventory management system that works with drones operated in sub-zero warehouses. The company has updated sensing, flight stability and onboard perception so that the system remains accurate despite frost, glare, airflow and swings in temperature. Kroger already uses it for live freezer operations. The system keeps temperatures at consistent levels, saving on the need for associates to enter freezer aisles for routine work.
