EXPLAINER: Robots and Olympics — a potent photo combination

BEIJING (AP) — A figure skater framed only by ragged ice gazes up, almost beseechingly. A goaltender sprawls inside a net, defeat written all over his limbs, even with his face obscured.

These Renaissance painting-like images capture the barrage of emotions evoked during Winter Olympics competition. The key behind them? Robots.

The images don't read “(AP Photo/Robot),” though. Good old-fashioned photography skills and instinct are integral to making them.

The five members of the International Olympic Photo Pool — Reuters, Getty Images, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Xinhua and, of course, The Associated Press — all employ robotics to augment their wire offerings.

How do they get it done?

AN EVOLVING PROCESS

The method is scarcely a decade old — no one was using robotics, at least at the Olympics, before the 2012 Summer Games. There were to be no catwalks at the London venues, so heavy rigs wired with clunky microphone cable were deployed. After that experience, the first change on the list: figuring out how to do the whole operation over a network connection.

The main man behind the AP's mechanics is photographer David J. Phillip. The rigs spend the off-season in Houston, where Phillip is based.

Just before London, Phillip was tasked with devising an underwater camera system — an assignment that mushroomed. He’s a scuba diver and generally interested in tinkering around, having taught himself programming from scratch.

A system born of necessity just keeps getting better, Phillip says, adding that keeping up with the software changes is a “moving target.” The robotics are periodically trotted out for other special events: this week's Super Bowl, the World Series, even presidential debates.

Planning for each Olympics typically begins a couple years before, but the...