ABU DHABI // A student from the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology is determined to bring the tradition of camel racing into the modern era with a health monitoring system for the sport’s thoroughbreds.
With an eye on potential commercial applications of MSc student Saeed Alnofeli’s invention, Masdar has filed a provisional patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Despite its popularity and cultural significance, Mr Alnofeli believed that some aspects of the sport were a little antiquated.
“I found some challenges in the camel-racing industry, including a poor understanding of camels’ health and how to improve camels’ racing performance, which is what motivated my research,” he said.
The sport, a centuries-old tradition across the Arabian Peninsula, was first formalised by enthusiasts in the UAE.
Robot jockeys, which were introduced in 2004, became the first technological advance in the sport and improved communication between camels and their trainers.
Mr Alnofeli’s monitoring system was designed to help the trainer to monitor the animal’s heart rate while it races, providing information that can be used to safeguard the camel’s health and optimise its racing performance.
The invention is based on Mr Alnofeli’s thesis research.
In the prototype, an off-the-shelf medical sensor is wrapped around the camel’s body to collect data on its heart rate and speed.
A signal processor sends the data to a computer operated by the trainer.
Mr Alnofeli is working to develop camel-specific sensors and he plans to introduce tracking and recording capabilities into the software.
“I see the camel-monitoring system as a business opportunity,” Mr Alnofeli said.
He has championed his system over the past two years and was awarded the BP Innovation Scholarship in 2014. He also won the first Khalifa Fund Technopreneur Competition that year and success in the Ibtikari 2.0 competition for start-ups garnered further recognition.
The Khalifa Fund and the Ministry of Economic Development, Abu Dhabi provided Mr Alnofeli with financial support, which he used to develop a prototype.
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