Tech rewrites rules of accessibility at Para-Special Games

Global Times

12th December 2025

Tech rewrites rules of accessibility at Para-Special Games

Opening up new possibilities

By Sun Langchen in Shenzhen

On a cool morning at the Para-Special Olympics venue in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, spectators gathered around an unlikely celebrity: a six-legged robotic dog. The machine paced methodically along the edge of the javelin field, waiting for the next throw. 

When an athlete completed an attempt, the robot trotted forward, retrieved the javelin with a soft mechanical grip, and carried it back, steady and precise, almost gentle. It was a small gesture of support in a stadium filled with human grit, but it hinted at something larger: the subtle, transformative ways technology is beginning to stand beside people with disabilities, not as a spectacle but as a partner.

"It can lead athletes to venue entrances, rest areas, classification zones, even the assistive device center," Zhang Peng, a staff member with the Guangzhou organizing committee, told the Global Times on Wednesday. During breaks, it escorts athletes who need repairs for their equipment; in the evenings, it leads hotel guests back to their rooms like a dutiful metal attendant

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