Tradition meets technology for Delhi 2010 baton relay

The baton,or rather the batons,have been designed by Bangalore-based company,Foley Designs,with their electronic components manufactured to specifications by Titan Industries and Bharat Electronics Limited. The final design was approved by the OC a few months ago and the final product is being described as an “indigenous technological masterpiece”.

Location tracking

After high-tech tracking technology was used in the baton for the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games,the Indian OC has decided to do even better. The Bangalore batons have the latest Global Positioning System (GPS),which will help monitor their precise,real-time location on the 2010 Games website.

Besides,the batons have instruments to capture images and sounds of each of the Commonwealth countries/dependencies they traverse through — from Cameroon to St Helena,Cook Islands and Fiji. However,the most fascinating aspect is light-emitting diodes (LEDs) embedded in the batons — the colours will change to match the colours of national flags of the countries the relay is passing through.

Depending on the time and terrain,the batons will be carried by air,ship,boats and even on elephant-back by thousands of hands. The baton relay will take 236 days and go through 70 countries before it begins a 100-day run in India starting June 25 next year.

But the baton is not just an ergonomically high-tech stick. The design is such that a triangular section of aluminium has been made into the shape of a helix and then layered with ribbons of different-coloured soils from each state of India.

In another first,micro-calligraphy has been used to engrave the Queen’s message to the Commonwealth athletes on a tiny gold lead,which is contained in a precious jewellery box on the top. The bottom of the baton is also gold-plated.