Not even designers of world class video games have thought of this one yet. I bet the Qatari engineers are hunched up and sniggering through their beards into their cupped, fist-shaped hands right now. Their World Cup is only in 2022, but these guys clearly have the money to blow to make magic. Very Bruce Almighty of them.

I mean it’s the kind of thing you’d expect to see in a scene from Bruce Almighty. This is how Bruce would have rolled.

The difference is that these remote controlled, hovering “things” aren’t really going to be anything like a real cloud that could create natural cuddling weather, and they aren’t really going to make a hell of a difference either it seems.

The head of a Mechanical and Industrial Engineering group at Qatar University, Dr. Saud Ghani, claimed that the artificial robotic cloud could potentially drop the temperatures on the pitch by 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Careful there doc, that’s only a few degrees Celsius, in the desert.

Design has passed initial engineering phase’s, says Ghani, and his team are preparing to make a 4 by 3 meter prototype by the end of this year to test the concept.

Apparently:

The finished product would be a rectangle made up of carbon fibre and solar panels the size of a jumbo jet. It would use sophisticated monitoring gear to track the transit of the sun and would use four electric powered engines to manoeuvre to the precisely the right position to drop a cool shade across the stadiums.

Please enjoy the video of the “flying saucer clouds”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNg6flso6ag

Ghani also said that they are planning to use the “thing” for radio and camera transmitters, wireless communications and security force operations. The helium filled blimps will cost about $500 000 according to Ghani’s prediction.

[Source: CNN]