MUST-SEE: AI robots connect fans in hospital with the Spanish GP paddock

It’s an unfortunate fact that, owing to ongoing medical conditions, some of F1’s most passionate fans simply aren’t able to make it along to Grands Prix to experience life in the paddock. And that’s where Beam, a robot created by the company Awabot, comes in…

A pair of Beam telepresence robots were allowed into the paddock over last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, allowing hospitalised or home-bound fans to virtually meet their racing heroes – with those fans able to control the robots remotely, to create the closest feeling possible to roaming the paddock.

READ MORE: Verstappen leads Red Bull 1-2 after Leclerc retires from rollercoaster Spanish Grand Prix

Two of those fans, Isla and Leo, got to meet Mick Schumacher via Beam, with the Haas driver saying after his chat with the pair: “It was a special opportunity for me to meet Isla and Leo in the paddock, albeit virtually, in Barcelona.

“Being able to chat with them in the comfort and familiarity of their own home was nice, and hopefully they enjoyed seeing me in my second home as well! Any way to open up the sport to those who aren’t able to come to an event I support, and the fact Isla was in the UK and Leo was in France was quite surreal – very cool technology.”

Check out how the fans got to meet the likes of Schumacher, Daniel Ricciardo and the Red Bull pairing of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in the video up top.