The robots are here. And they’re camel racing.

Robot camel races: A traditional bedouin camel racing event in Ismailia last week saw 150 camels cover distances of between five and 15 km, cheered on by more than 1,000 spectators, Reuters reports. But several Gulf countries have bowed to pressure from rights groups to ban the child jockeys who would typically keep the meandering mammals on course, meaning that Egyptian camel owners must follow suit if they are to remain competitive. Enter the robots: “child-sized devices with a whipping arm that can be triggered at a distance.” Some of the real children, however, seem to see the robots as usurpers, rather than saviors, with one remarking rather pointedly that they are much better than robots at steering.