Techno Toys Absolute Genius Super Tech with Dick & Dom

-This is...

-BOTH:

-Absolute Genius!

Come with us as we dive into the wonderful world of technology.

This is mind-blowing!

Each show, we introduce you to geniuses

whose inventions have changed the world forever!

We then take their tech and super-size it

in our Genius Tech Challenge.

The question is, will we pull it off?

Is this his brain?

If you love gadgets then strap yourself in.

-It's genius.

-Absolute Genius. BOTH:

-Huh!

-Wow!

-Yeah!

On this show we delve into the world of high-tech toys.

Look at that!

Where we get to play with the toys of the future.

It is skateboarding without wheels!

And we race a remote control car like no other.

Whoa!

But can we handle the speed?

Stop!

Today we're going to show you how technology has transformed

the best thing in the world, right? Toys!

Board games, dolls, toy cars,

they're all so last year. We're talking about toys with tech!

We're going to introduce you to three geniuses whose ideas and inspirations

have transformed the way we play.

And we're going to be riding the world's first real life hoverboard!

It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it!

Welcome to the world of techno-toys!

Toys have been around since ancient Egypt.

But it wasn't until the early 1900s

that the first tech toy was invented,

the electric train-set by the Lionel toy company.

And ever since the 1980s, loads of toys with tech have been released.

There's been robot teddy-bears, electronic pets

and state of the art computer games.

Techno-toys are definitely here to stay,

and they're going to get better.

All of our geniuses have used technology...

To produce ground-breaking gadgets to play with.

And our first genius' idea

was to make technology affordable to everyone.

Introducing genius number one, Clive Sinclair!

That's SIR Clive to you!

Oh, well, that's us told!

British entrepreneur Sir Clive Sinclair was a massive tech pioneer.

He created the first ever pocket calculator,

ingenious new forms of transport

and a TV small enough to fit, well, anywhere!

But it was when he set his mind on making home computers affordable

that he had his most genius idea - the ZX80!

Sinclair was a true British genius, and in the '80s

Cambridge was the place to be when it came to home computing.

So where better to find out about his computers than here,

the Centre For Computing History in Cambridge?

And to help us learn more about the great man,

we've got tech queen Lucy Hedges.

So why was Sir Clive Sinclair so inspirational?

Well, for many, he was widely regarded as the founding father

of the British home computing industry,

for everything that he brought to the industry -

an affordable computer, programming, gaming.

That's why he's so inspirational.

Even his fans call him Uncle Clive, they love him.

And I think if it wasn't for him

the industry would be a little bit different.

-This is the ZX80.

-It is!

-So why were these so revolutionary?

Back in the '80s, you know, home computers,

it was a fairly new concept but they were expensive.

What the ZX80 did was bring all the features of the rivals

but for a fraction of the price.

It was affordable, so for the first time,

a real computer could be in the home for under £100.

And if you felt like assembling it yourself,

saving 20 quid, you could do.

This is crazy! So you'd be given some metal and plastic.

-Mmm-hmm.

-And then you'd make your own computer

-and then you design your own games.

-Yes.

Sinclair ZX80 opened up the world of computing

to loads of people in Britain

And a year later he refined his invention

and released the much improved ZX81,

which you could still build yourself to save cash.

So there's one thing for it...

-Well, can we have a go?

-Of course you can.

Dick and Dom are about to make a computer.

-Number one, preparation, put out all the bits.

-Right.

This is actually how the ZX80 and 81 arrived at your home

if you wanted to build it yourself.

That's it.

-This is the complicated part, the circuit board.

-That goes there.

-It's not going down!

-CRUNCHING

Oh, that didn't sound good, did it?

My machine! My beautiful machine!

It turns out building a computer from scratch is quite difficult.

-You idiot.

-You've fixed it.

-No, I haven't, you've bent its legs.

I've bent the legs.

But kids in the '80s, with a bit of help from their parents,

would knock these together in just one day!

-Some of that there.

-Yep.

-One of them there.

-Bit of that.

-Oooooh...

Oh, screwdriver, screwdriver. There you are.

-That there.

-Done.

-Da-da! There you are.

-ZX81.

There you are!

Noooo!

What on Earth is that?

-Should we go and have a look at one that works?

-Yeah.

-So look at what we've got, a fully working ZX81.

-Ah, yes!

Are you ready to try it out?

-Is that the game? Is that the game there?

-That is the game.

Look, in today's standards, this looks so...basic.

-Very basic.

-At the time?

-Cutting edge technology.

-Really?

And graphics, yeah! This blew people's minds, believe it or not.

Kids of the '80s were hooked, writing code

and programming their favourite games.

But Sir Clive didn't stop there.

In just 12 months, technology had improved so much

that he launched the ZX Spectrum,

bringing a computer powerful enough to have colour games

and 16 times more memory.

This meant low-cost home computers were here to stay,

and inspired a generation of British gamers.

Look, he's not very good, clearly.

-You're the expert, we'll let you take over.

-Yeah, let me have a go.

Thank you very much, Luce.

-And most of all, thank you very much to Sir Clive Sinclair!

-Genius.

You owe me £80 for my computer!

Computer processing speeds have advanced at phenomenal rates

since Sir Clive's one kilobyte computers.

With improvements to circuitry and microchips, processors now contain

BILLIONS of transistor components.

Meaning that today's computer speeds are millions of times quicker

than Sir Clive's home computers of the '80s.

But computers aren't the only tech-toys

that have moved on since then.

So here are five super-cool future toys and gadgets

that you could be playing with one day.

At five, want to play the piano, guitar and violin?

But don't have space for them all? Then you need this bad-boy,

where you can play any kind of musical instrument on it.

Four, if this gadget is made it will be a wearable drone

that will fly off your wrist and take some selfies

when you're doing something genius.

Three, if you've dreamt of being woken up by a robot

who can help you do your homework and call your nan for you

then say hello to Buddy, who is being developed right now.

At two, when finished this will be a full gaming suit that will let you

feel the hit of the ball when playing you favourite sport games.

And finally at one, it may look just like a toy dinosaur,

but it's a dinosaur that's artificially intelligent, so you can

ask it questions and it will answer them!

Tyrannosaurus tech!

Home computers have come on quite far since Sir Clive's invention.

But most of the principles are the same, a console or a computer,

a controller and a screen.

Ah, but you can't actually get inside the computer game.

And that's all changed thanks to our next genius, who's brought us into a new dimension!

Imagine one day being able to feel like

you're flying a fighter jet or swimming with a great white shark,

all without leaving your sofa!

How? Simple. Virtual reality.

That's all thanks to our next genius, Jaron Lanier.

I'm virtually right here now, man!

Virtual reality was created in the 1920s,

when Edwin Link made the world's first flight simulator.

But most of us would identify virtual reality with space-age goggles

that put us in a digital world.

Modern virtual reality uses high-tech computer graphics

and built-in sensors which, by adding in sounds,

tricks your mind into believing you're in a totally different world.

Jaron Lanier was a pioneer of virtual reality,

by creating headsets that were available to the masses.

His revolutionary thinking over 30 years ago has paved the way

for a whole new wave of virtual reality headsets

which will allow you to step into your favourite game.

Now he's invited us here to his top research laboratory

at Microsoft in Seattle to have a go

at some of the gaming gadgets of the future!

We need to meet this genius. Come on!

-Great to meet you, Jaron.

-Hey.

-Hey, Jaron, how you doing?

-How you doing?

-Really good, thanks.

You are massively influential in the virtual reality world,

what did you do in the '80s?

Well, some people call me the father of virtual reality,

I don't know if that's right. I made up the name and I was the

first person to connect people together so they could share it.

Can you explain to us exactly what virtual reality is?

Sure. Virtual reality is when you see stuff generated by a computer

and it seems like it's real, except it isn't.

And usually you experience it because you wear

these special goggles, and sometimes you wear weird gloves.

But the computer creates stuff,

kind of like video game stuff except it seems real in front of you.

And that's virtual reality.

So what is the future, then, for virtual reality?

Well, this is a really amazing moment for virtual reality.

All of a sudden we're about to see a world where

there are products that people can buy.

Most of the major computer and tech companies have been busy

working on their own versions of virtual reality gaming,

available to buy in 2016.

Do you know what? Talking about it has got us excited enough,

-is there any chance we can have a go at this?

-I think it's time for that.

-Oh!

-Do it!

Jaron's team are working on mixed reality games,

which combine the real world with the virtual world.

This tech is still being designed and is so cutting edge

that it won't be available for ages,

so we're really luck to get our hands on it.

By using special cameras, they track our position within the room

and can put us and the objects we are using into our virtual reality.

And to us it looks a bit like this.

Oi! There we go, it's a whole little toy village.

Little houses, trees.

The blocks on the floor are now representing houses

in the virtual reality world.

Oh, yeah!

'All of the objects have motion trackers on them,'

which work exactly like our goggles.

The trackers send and receive data to the computer,

meaning they are now part of our computer generated world.

Hello, little house.

Now if I pick...

-You've lifted the whole garden and the trees.

-Wow! Wheee!

Look at that!

-Are you all seeing this as well?

-Yeah.

-What about the steering wheel?

What can we do with that?

We can control this yellow car here. Can you see the car?

-You going to drive it?

-Yeah, yeah, OK.

-Where are you?

-I'm now driving...

-Oh, wow!

'We have never played with anything like this before!'

Ah! There's nothing there, man!

Oh! I've just blown up!

'But like with most things with us, it soon descends into chaos.'

Don't kick my barn over!

You've just kicked them! You've ruined it!

Oh, no!

-Right, we're trashing the place.

-Look at the state of the town now!

-Look at it!

-It's one big pile!

This is the most fun I've ever had!

This is mind-blowing!

Here's my lovely blue house, and it's got such a lovely ROOF!

'This technology is amazing and it's still just a prototype,

'so imagine what it will be like in the future.'

Thanks to Lanier we could soon be playing virtually,

well, anywhere we like!

And that is absolute genius!

Later in the show, we drive a super-size remote control car!

Madness!

'And we go head-to-head in a race that pushes tech to the limit.'

Stop!

'In more ways than one!'

SKIDDING

We've already seen how it's possible to play inside the virtual world,

but what about the real world?

Our next genius predicted the way we would live our lives today,

but way back in 1989!

Alongside virtual reality, he dreamt of a world with flying cars,

self-drying jackets, and, of course, the awesome hoverboard!

Introducing genius film director Robert Zemeckis!

Where you're going, you don't need roads!

In 1989, Robert Zemeckis directed an

epic time-travelling film called Back To The Future II.

In it he made predictions about

what the world would look like in 2015.

Hydrate level four, please!

Fast-forward to the present and some of those ideas didn't quite make it.

However, some were spot on, like video-calling.

Hey! The big M!

And the most iconic image of all, the hoverboard!

When Zemeckis and screenwriter Bob Gale

came up with the idea of the hoverboard,

they probably didn't think that

it was actually ever going to become a reality.

And it inspired loads of inventors to try and bring the hoverboard to life!

And it's finally happened,

we've come here to the Arx Pax labs in California

to meet the people who have risen to the challenge

and made Zemeckis' dream a reality.

It's about time!

And this is it, the world's first ever hoverboard!

Revealed to the world in 2014,

it's jam packed with technology that allows you

to float a few centimetres off the ground.

Hey! Watch it!

Who better to tell us how it works than the inventors,

Greg and Jill Henderson?

They're the brains behind this amazing tech!

Let's levitate!

I never thought I would see this, this is a hoverboard.

-Childhood dream, come true!

-Yeah!

Jill, Greg, lovely to meet you.

I can't wait to see it working, but how does it work?

We require a floor that is made out of a conductive material,

something like copper or aluminium.

What we are....

'Um...'

-..four hover engines...

-'Yeah...'

..are creating swirls of electricity in the copper.

-'Uh-huh.'

-And those swirls of electricity

create a secondary magnetic field

-'Mm-hmm.'

-So the hove-engine can

push up off that secondary magnetic field

-'Do you understand what he's talking about?'

-'No.'

-'Should we go see our science friend, Fran?'

-'Yes.'

Are you ready? To try the hoverboard?

Of course we want to have a go, no question about it.

But before we do there's one thing we need to clarify.

Just going to nip off. Back in a minute.

-You're not going far, are you?

-No, no, no, no.

Two minutes, just stay there!

I'm just not getting it! Quick! To the airport!

MUSIC: Rule, Britannia

-Right, where is she?

-In a tea shop, of course.

-Aren't you guys meant to be in the States?

-Yes, we were,

and we saw this amazing Hendo hoverboard,

but we need to know how it works.

-You're in luck, cos I do know exactly how it works.

-Tell us!

And I've got something in my bag that'll help me.

Here it is.

-What's that?

-What is it?

-It's a magnet.

Let me show you. Here, I've got some metal,

so I've got metal, magnet, magnet, metal, and...

BANGS METAL Oi!

This metal is steel.

And it's what we call a magnetic metal,

which means it attracts our magnet to it and makes it stick.

-So here I've got another sheet.

-Exactly the same!

It does look exactly the same,

but see if it reacts the same to the magnet. Here's the magnet.

-Oh!

-Nothing!

-Nothing.

-So what kind of metal is this?

-That is aluminium.

But how does that make a hoverboard work?

When you move a magnet near aluminium,

it actually makes that metal start acting like a magnet itself.

And you know what happens when two magnets come together?

-They stick together!

-Or?

-Or they go apart.

-Exactly.

They repel each other. And that's exactly what happens here.

-Are you ready?

-Let's have a look.

-This is a pipe of aluminium.

-It is.

What do you think would happen if I drop my magnet through the middle?

It's just going to drop from one end to the other.

I'm going to drop it in.

-And it gently floats down the tube.

-Come on, give me a go!

-Are you ready?

-What time is it?

Where ARE they?

Oooh! Magic!

Real science beats magic!

-It's official!

-Exactly! And what's happening there

is this pipe is acting like a magnet

that's repelling our falling magnet, so it falls much slower.

And that's called Lenz's law,

and it's exactly that same law that makes the hoverboard work.

Well, you sit here, have another lapsang souchong,

-and we'll get back to the States. All right?

-Enjoy it!

-Bye!

'Right. I get it now.'

'Yeah, me too. To the airport.'

'Right back in. Time to get hoverboarding.'

Sorry about that!

-Jet lag. Where were we?

-Can we have a go?

-Yeah.

-Absolutely.

-Welcome back.

-Thanks.

Right, fire it up.

-Ready?

-Yeah.

-Let's do it.

-All right.

WHIRRING

SQUEALS

-It's floating!

-It's happening.

-Oh!

-Oh!

THEY SHRIEK

'It might be able to take both our weight,

'but we're a rubbish hoverboard duo.'

Right, one of us. You go first.

-Rich is going to go.

-Here we go.

Oh, yeah, got to get your balance.

Go on, off you go.

Oh, my life, that is bizarre!

I'm floating!

Go back to the future.

BACK TO THE FUTURE MUSIC

Amazing! It's levitating!

There's no wheels!

Aaah!

Wow. It's just like the movie.

One foot there?

Waah!

Wow! Wow!

Wait, wait, wait!

That's great! That's like the smoothest skateboarding ever.

-It's bizarre.

-It is skateboarding without wheels.

You know what? Some things are best left to the pros.

Oh, yeah!

It's so hard to get your head around that that is floating.

There's no wheels.

It's floating.

Well done!

That's great!

Thank you very much, it's been a pleasure to be here.

It must feel incredible

knowing you're making childhood dreams come true!

We've ridden a hoverboard! Absolute Genius.

Thank you!

'Our geniuses have used tech to create some amazing toys

'which have transformed the way we play.'

This blew people's minds.

'And we've had a glimpse into the toys of the future.'

This is the most fun I've ever had!

'It's official - tech toys are Genius.'

On today's episode, we've seen how the toys that we play with

can be transformed thanks to our technological geniuses.

They've all thought outside the box

and pushed the limits on the toys we play with.

And that's what we're about to do in today's Genius Tech Challenge.

-You've all seen one of these, right?

-Yeah.

But the control is not going to operate this -

it's going to operate THIS.

From the outside, this looks like any normal vehicle.

But this has been customised with the latest tech

to make it a huge remote-controlled toy.

Talking us through how this is all possible is the inventor, James.

-Hi, James.

-Hello. Pleased to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Can you take us through some of the technology?

-Let's look inside.

It looks just like a normal car, to be honest.

-Well, apart from the...

-It's exactly like a normal car,

except we've added robots to it in order to do the driving for us.

How do we actually drive it?

So, we have a robot that turns the steering wheel.

We have a robot that presses down on the accelerator.

We have a robot that presses down on the brakes.

And we have another little robot that moves the gear stick.

-James, I love talking...

-Loves it.

-..but I love doing even more. Can we race it?

-Definitely.

Let's race!

Here's the plan!

For our Genius Tech Challenge, we're going to be racing

a remote-controlled car like no other.

This is a real car that,

thanks to technology, has been turned into a massive toy!

We each get three laps around the course.

And the one who does it the quickest wins.

But we're going to have to be careful as well as quick,

because every time we hit something, time will be added to our score.

And the stakes couldn't be higher,

because after the three laps are up,

we still have to park the car

within one metre of our most prized possession!

Our Bafta awards for best presenters!

Knocking off the Bafta won't only be

the worst thing that's ever happened to us,

but it will also result in one minute of time being added

-to our score!

-So we're putting faith in technology

-not to damage our Bafta.

-Let the games begin.

The course is ready. Let's hope we are.

-Right. Who's going first?

-Heads or tails?

-Heads.

-Right.

Tails. Stick it up there.

Goodbye, my sweet, sweet Bafta.

-I won't let you down.

-Let's drive.

Three! Two! One!

HOOTER

This is brilliant. OK.

-Mind the barrels.

-I'm minding them!

This is madness!

After a steady start,

as Dom enters the first bend, he gets into trouble.

Hitting the barrel will cost Dom an extra five seconds.

-Where am I going? Up there?

-You're not even on the track.

'He's going to have to improve his driving.'

What are you doing?!

'Otherwise his prized possession could get hit.'

1 minute 30 already.

With one lap down, he still has to safely navigate the final two.

Oh, my life.

'That's another five seconds.'

It's a lot more difficult than it looks, OK?

'I love that Bafta.

'And I probably won't get another one after this.'

Ooh, my goodness!

'Another five seconds! So, with three laps complete,

-'it's all down to his parking skills.

-Here we go!

Remember, his irreplaceable Bafta award is on the line.

Right, less throttle.

Stop. Stop!

Oooh.

My baby! My baby!

Are you OK?

It's bent!

Look at it!

It's bending backwards!

Yeah, all right, but what about James's giant toy?!

Oh, my...

I've absolutely mashed it.

What's he done to it, James? It doesn't look good.

The evidence is on the floor here.

You see the green puddles? Well, that's the coolant from the engine.

We need to have a look at the radiator in there,

repair it, put some more fluid in, then we can race again.

James? Did I break your brand-new remote-controlled car?

ENGINE STARTS

'Phew! And with a promise to be more careful next time

'Dick gets ready for his laps.'

-HOOTER Aah!

-Let's go.

In three, two, one, go!

HOOTER

-Go on, then.

-All right.

Not that fast!

You were going faster than that!

'A confident start from Dicky there,

'showing good speed and steady steering.'

-Nice control!

-Look at that. Told you.

Good lad.

'Ooh, that's an extra five seconds on the clock!'

I think you spoke too soon!

'This is a lot harder than driving a little remote-controlled car.'

-Bit faster than that?

-A little bit, yeah.

'But a bit faster means a lot faster with a real-size car,

'and I totally lose control of it.'

No! Stop!

No!

'And dropping the controller doesn't help at all!'

TYRES SCREECH

'But luckily for me, James kills the power

-'before I totally wreck his toy.'

-What was that?!

I got the throttle and the brake mixed up.

'With us almost breaking James's car - again -

'and him having to intervene - again -

'this adds 30 seconds to the clock.'

It went some, though, didn't it?

Go on. 'Lap two.'

Nice and compact this time.

This is good.

'Not from where I'm standing.'

'Five more seconds!'

'My run's not going so well.'

That's not the course.

'That's ten seconds!'

'I'm sure it'll be all right.'

CLUNK

THEY GASP 'Maybe not.'

You've ripped the nose off it!

Look at the front of the car!

Look at the...!

'James will not be happy.'

-It's smoking!

-It's smoking!

'I think Dick might have just broken it.'

It's going to blow up in a minute.

'James has to get Dick back on track,

'which adds another 30 seconds. He's got a lot of time to make up!'

It's not very happy, though, is it?

-Oh, no.

-Oh!

THEY LAUGH

'Finally, he finishes his laps.'

That's it. Come on, bring it home to roost.

'Question is now, how is his parking?'

Right.

Get off!

Oh, look at that!

That far away!

'Both of our laps done, let's see how we did.

'After a slow and steady start, I soon picked up speed,

'but did hit a few penalties along the way.'

'And you knocked off your Bafta,

'which added an extra one minute,

'giving you a total of 9 minutes 48 seconds.'

'Dick, on the other hand, hit everything he could...'

What was that?! '..and almost wrecked the car.

'Twice.

'Racking up over nine minutes in penalties.'

'Ah, but I didn't hit my Bafta!'

'No, but you did take 19 minutes to do your lap.'

Which means that I'm the winner! Oi-oi!

HOOTER

There's no doubt that techno toys are here to stay.

I'm now driving that! Oh, wow!

'And we've witnessed their humble beginnings...'

-ZX81.

-There you are.

'..to their mind-blowing future.'

This is the most fun I've ever had.

'It's official - tech plus toys equals a lot of fun.'

THEY LAUGH

On today's show, we've found out

how our three Geniuses have used technology

to invent ground-breaking toys.

Sinclair brought computers into your living room,

Lanier made gaming a virtual reality,

and Zemeckis dreamt up the hoverboard.

Maybe they've inspired you to create the techno-toy of the future.

Just don't let us have a go, all right?

-Sinclair, Lanier, Zemeckis, you are all...

-BOTH: Absolute Genius.

Where's Rich gone?

-It's stopped!

-Aaaah!

A long line is a beeeep.

Aaah!

It's fallen off!

How did you find that?

"Blew my head off."

You can't end it like that!