Absolute Genius Absolute Genius Super Tech with Dick & Dom

In this series, we've looked at some of the best super tech in the world.

And we'll be looking at the geniuses of the future. You lot.

In this episode we'll be crowning our very own...

BOTH: Absolute Tech Genius.

Back in September 2015, we launched a competition like no other.

We asked you to send in your ideas for a new piece of technology

that could change kids' lives in the future.

Loads of you entered, but only eight finalists were chosen to take on

two challenges and face our super tech judges to present their ideas.

Three will be chosen to continue their journey to attend CES

in Las Vegas, the biggest technology show on the planet

and then to meet the King of Tech, Apple's Chief design Officer,

Sir Jonathan Ive.

But only one will be crowned...

BOTH: Absolute Tech Genius!

Welcome to our very own search for an absolute tech genius.

These are the final eight, they're here because they had

the best ideas and showed a real passion for tech.

I'm Ben and I'm an Absolute Tech Genius

because I like looking at how tech works.

My name's Addy and I like

welding and angle grinding.

My name's Eashan and I really like to design games.

My name's Edward and I'm always coming up with new ideas.

I'm Millie and I love making games and websites.

My name is Lucas. I love inventing the future.

My name's Sara and I love technology.

My name's Elliot and I love to code.

One of you will be crowned Absolute Tech Genius.

So I hope you're up for the challenge.

Now, we're not going to be making any decisions.

No, these guys are. It's the Super Tech judges.

John Bentley - he's the presenter of The Gadget Show,

so knows more than a bit about a techie challenge.

Lucy Hedges is the technology editor of a national newspaper.

Clive Beale is the head of robotics at Raspberry Pi

and will be across all things technical.

And finally, Cheryl Taylor is the queen of our very own CBBC channel.

She's our boss and obviously knows quality when she sees it!

Over the next two days, they'll be watching our geniuses' every move

as they take on two gruelling tech challenges, before meeting them

to hear their ideas.

But they will have to prove they have both a passion

and knowledge of tech to be crowned the Absolute Tech Genius.

Your first challenge is all about transport.

Now, technology is very rarely done by just one person, so for our first

challenge, we're going to split you into two different groups.

Team one will be Millie, Elliot, Lucas and Sara.

Team two will be Edward, Ben, Addy and Eashen.

Your challenge is then to make a kart that can

go around a carting track for four laps in the fastest time possible.

If you get stuck, we've got our genius helpers James and Grant,

they can answer any questions you've got.

-Are you ready?

-ALL:

-Yes!

Our geniuses have to work out as a team what wheels, gear ratios

and batteries to use as well as designing how it looks.

The judges will be looking at how they all work together.

-Let's start with the wheels.

-Right, OK.

As the teams get started, it's pretty clear that they're

taking very different approaches.

The back tyres will help the car stay on the track.

12-year-old Eashan is an avid games designer.

Technology makes so many things possible.

Technology, it managed to get a man to the moon.

This challenge is all about team work

-and team one get straight to it.

-Maybe these.

-Wait, hang on...

Because these have more grip.

But Lucas and Elliot take a definite lead

and seem to be making most of the decisions for the group.

Why don't we have these for the front and these for the back?

11-year-old Elliot is inspired by the endless opportunities

that technology creates.

You can make something that can fly, you can make something

that can go under water, there's no limit.

Team two are taking a slower approach,

but they are planning each step of their build before getting hands-on.

That's for the back, because then it won't go too fast or too slow.

It's also still light.

OK, my fingers, argh!

Both teams also take an opposite approach when it comes to selecting

how to power their karts.

They can choose to use one or two batteries.

This is where you've really got to start to use your brain.

Two, you have more power, but it's heavier.

So we're going to put in 24 vaults and get the maximum out of it.

So you've got a lot of power, but a lot of weight as well.

Yep.

Team one are going for a heavier kart,

with double the battery power in the hope that this will help them win.

OK, perfect!

But what about team two?

As there's loads and loads of corners on the actual track...

-We should stick with one.

-..I think we should stick with one.

Team two think their best chance of winning is by making the kart

lightweight, by using just one battery.

This'll improve the acceleration because there's not as much weight

that's being dragged along.

12-year-old Edward has a broad range of knowledge

and is a fan of all things tech.

I like coding, flying drones and coming up with new tech ideas.

That's good, yep. I'm a quick thinker and I'm a quick maker.

That's all the decisions made,

so now it's down to making their tech stand out.

This is the side-on view.

Team one take an "all hands on deck" approach and they still seem

to be led by the boys, with the girls taking a step back.

That's ugly, we need to just cover that up.

Ten-year-old Sara has taken a back-seat in the carting challenge,

but believes she still has the tech skills to help her succeed.

I love technology and I help my dad all the time on his website.

I'm a tech genius because I can outthink anyone.

Team two have decided that they will each have specific roles,

so head designer is Addy.

So we were thinking we could extend the front of it so it's pointy,

so all the air could come up a bit and make it go a bit faster.

HE HONKS HORN

Five minutes left! Only five minutes.

Time is nearly up, but it seems that team two's approach

may be paying off.

Team one started well before team two, now team two are well ahead.

Yeah, but who knows?

It's all in the drive, it's all in the drive.

It certainly is, and with a couple of minutes remaining...

You really are going to have to start to get a wiggle on.

..it's time for one final push to get the design finished.

Five, four,

three, two,

one...

Stop! Put your tools down. Stop working.

-Come on in.

-Right, now it looks like you've done a pretty good job.

Both of your cars look fantastic, well done.

-BUT the proof is in the pudding.

-Well, the driving.

To the track.

The karts are completed -

team one's red car is much heavier,

but more powerful, as it has two batteries.

Whereas team two's blue kart is more streamlined

and lighter, as it only has one battery.

Each kart will go around the track for four laps to see whether

your tech decisions have affected the performance of the vehicle.

And to make it nice and fair, the same driver is going to be

driving each of your karts.

Team one, you're going first.

Three, two, one, go!

-That was a good start.

-Yeah, look at that!

-It's got a bit of speed.

-Pretty nippy, isn't it?

Team one's decision to concentrate on full power, by using both

batteries, may be paying off.

That's the first lap completed.

The extra weight doesn't seem to be a problem so far.

Come on!

-ALL:

-Come on!

Team one's kart keeps a constant speed

and has no problem making its way around the track.

-Keep going!

-Come on!

After four laps and as it approaches the finishing line...

Team one seem fairly happy with its performance.

-TEAM ONE:

-Yeah!

-All right, team two, are you ready?

-TEAM TWO:

-Yes!

All right, then. Three, two, one, go!

Team two wanted to make their cart more lightweight

by using just one battery.

But with less power, will they be able to beat

team one's overall time?

It's lighter, so surely it should be going a little bit faster, right?

Yeah.

Well, that was the theory.

Come on, you can do it! Go a little bit faster.

-It's not getting any faster.

-At least it's not going backwards.

Well, there's an optimistic view. At least it's not going backwards!

As team two approaches the finish line... Come on, put your foot down.

Has their lack of speed put them out of the race? Let's find out.

OK, teams, the results are in.

Team one, your kart did the four laps in two minutes ten.

Team two, your kart did the four laps in three minutes ten.

Remember, though, that's only a small part of the judging process.

Yeah, it's all about teamwork.

Let's find out what the judges thought.

So team two went for the one battery which,

given that they had more batteries,

they're clearly making a technical choice.

The only danger with this type of team is that it's too much

of a committee and they could have gone a bit quicker maybe if they'd

had a slightly stronger focus.

So with team one, you've almost got two teams,

you've got the girls, Millie and Sara, and boys

doing their stuff separately.

I don't think they're trying to deliberately sideline them,

but I just think they're so keen to get going and building.

I just think the girls... Maybe they wanted to think about it more.

Team one had the fastest overall time.

They've managed to achieve it

and good on them.

The judges have spoken. But there is still time to impress.

For challenge two, our finalists have to build

a working robot all on their own.

All you have to do is build a robot and knock over the pile of tins.

Nice and simple. Just build a robot.

-All right, do you understand?

-ALL:

-Yes.

-Good.

Three, two, one, go! Good luck.

So in challenge one, our tech geniuses had to work together

and tackle decision-making and design,

but challenge two is a solo challenge.

Good luck with that bit.

Can they demonstrate a capability to get hands-on with tech?

Lucas, what are you doing down there?

-More space.

-More space. Ah, thinking, always thinking.

-How's it going, Ben?

-Good.

When it comes to tech, 11-year-old Ben takes a methodical approach.

I don't just jump straight in, I ask lots of questions.

I never give up.

The judges will be looking at how well our geniuses can handle

the inner workings of their robot.

It looks like you're having a bit

of a problem with the wires there, Millie.

I think I put it on the wrong side.

-Ah, no, don't get it on the wrong side.

-No.

It's all about passion, perseverance and getting the job done.

Ten-year-old Addy thinks she's got what it takes.

I think I'm a tech genius because

I do things with angle grinders, screws and bolts.

I'm a girl, I can weld, deal with it.

-Edward is the first to finish his robot. He's done it!

-You're done?

-Yeah.

-But has he rushed it?

-Go over there, try it out.

-Well done.

-Yes!

-Well done.

Brilliant!

Elliot finishes next and still looks confident,

but will his robot work?

-Yeah, well done!

-Very good, well done, mate.

Next up is Ben.

-Well done!

-Good man.

-Very good.

That leaves just five of our geniuses still hard at work.

How've you found it, Millie?

I've got things mainly in the right place.

Gaming technology's inspired 12-year-old Millie

and she loves to concentrate on bringing her own ideas to life.

Technology for me is all about playing games

and creating new things,

getting inspiration from other people's ideas and turning them

into something that's your own and unique.

Eashan finishes next, but as he goes to knock down his tins,

there's a problem.

-It needs rewiring.

-Problem there, Eashan?

-It needs rewiring.

Oh, what happened? It didn't work?

So, it's back to the drawing board for Eashan.

Millie's competed hers.

But it's not long before Millie also runs into difficulty.

-Oh, no, it's stopped.

-Ah, why has it stopped?

There's probably a loose connection, I imagine.

After a quick rewire and despite the mistakes,

both Eashan and Millie haven't given up.

-Yay!

-Well done, Millie.

After all, technology and inventions

are all about perseverance to succeed.

Compared to the first challenge, 12-year-old Lucas seems

to be finding robot building more difficult.

Is that finished, then?

But he's an expert at never giving up.

One of my favourite quotes is that failure leads to success

and I have failed so many times,

but each time I've done that, I've learned.

Each time I've learned, I've done something productive.

-Well done!

-Good man, well done, Lucas.

Only two stacks of tins remain,

ready for Addy and Sara to knock down.

-Yay!

-Well done, well done.

THEY CHEER

Well done, Sara. There we are, all complete.

They all worked and all the cans are down.

-Well done.

-Spot on, geniuses. Very impressive, very impressive.

But it's not down to us, it's down to the judges.

So they all finished their robots.

-Edward steamed ahead...

-And Elliot is not far behind.

I really felt for Millie, though,

her robot conked out halfway and she had to go back and rewire it.

I also quite like the way that Eashan persevered.

He really wanted to complete the challenge.

You always learn from your mistakes, so if you take those on board

and have another go, that's a great attitude -

especially if you're looking to be a technical genius.

Sara still finished the course.

She came in last, but she finished the course.

This is their last chance to impress.

Each of our geniuses will need to hold their nerve

as they attempt to make it into the top three and to America.

In a moment you're going to go into that room to pitch your future

tech ideas and answer all their questions. So good luck.

Hoping her pitch will be a hit with the judges is Addy,

who's designed a duvet cover that can cool you down or heat you up.

But will our judges warm to the idea?

-Hi, Addy. How are you?

-Good.

What would you say...

If you had to pick one thing, what makes this unique?

This can do warm and cold and some things

that are only cold or only warm.

And you can even pre-cool or preheat it with my app.

Well, I can definitely haven't seen one

and I would definitely sign up for one.

Thank you, that's great.

Addy produces a confident pitch, but has she done enough?

Next to face the judges is Lucas

with his interactive learning app, which has been developed to

give students access to information when and where they want it.

Could you give me a real example of how you could use this,

say in the classroom or maybe at home for someone to learn from?

Yeah, OK. Brain Booter is an interactive learning app.

Say they don't know what totalitarianism is,

so they'll be like, "Whoa, what's that word?"

"OK, let's click a hint."

And it's designed for people who want to learn in a fun way.

Thank you very much, that's great.

Lucas produced a pitch full of energy,

but will it be good enough to get him into the top three?

Up next is Elliot with a bright idea.

He's hoping to teach kids how to touch-type using an LED keyboard.

Do you see it working with any other sorts of keyboards?

It could be used for lots of things, I think.

Even the piano could have imbedded LEDs

and on a guitar you could have...

For each strum you could have different ones.

-Brilliant, thank you.

-Thank you.

-Bye.

Elliot's straightforward idea seemed to go down well with the judges.

A personal experience inspired Sara to design her idea.

Her cousin, who is autistic, doesn't always know

when it is or isn't safe to cross the road.

-Hi, Sara.

-Hi.

-So Sara's solution is a hat.

The hat will alert wearers when it's safe to cross the road.

You have to wear it, there's some speakers and a camera here.

It tells them, "Stop, don't," and just a simple word.

-Thanks was sharing your idea with us, Sara.

-OK, bye.

Bye-bye. Thank you.

By taking a situation close to her heart,

Sara may have impressed the judges with her pitch.

Edward has designed a classroom desk that can

display 3-D images to make learning

way more visually stimulating and fun.

Do you see this concept or idea in schools?

Yeah, I was thinking of how school could be made, kind of,

more fun and more interactive.

So with this, you could have a 3-D volcano

in geography to show how it worked,

-you could modify and expand.

-Yeah, yeah.

Thank you, that's great, thank you.

Edward delivered an idea that also showed future potential.

Next to wow the judges is Eashan with his virtual reality headset.

This headset uses built-in Braille

and sign language features to help kids learn.

Virtual Lab is a multilingual, self-paced,

personalised, e-learning system

with special features for children with special needs.

Do you think... Because it's so rich and complex, do you think

that people might have a little bit of difficulty

getting used to all the amazing features?

No, because to navigate round it,

it'll all be extremely simple and concise.

-They can just shake yes or no.

-Very good.

And this can become reality.

That's a passionate pitch from Eashan, but

did the detail outweigh his chances?

Ben's next to see the judges with his Yes, Miss app.

This useful app is designed

to help students and parents keep on top of homework deadlines.

So on a typical day using the app, how does it work?

So you take a picture of your homework,

add a due date and a subject and it's logged.

It's very quick and simple.

How did you come up with the name?

Well, I thought about Yes, Sir, but that sounds quite army related,

-so I just thought Yes, Miss.

-That's really good. That's great.

Both his pitch and product name leave the judges impressed.

Millie's idea is a fixed monitor for a back-seat passenger,

so they have a view of the road ahead to eliminate car sickness

and it could be used for augmented reality gaming.

Could you see any way you could adapt it?

I suppose you could also read text

if it was on the road or on the back of a car.

For instance, if you were going to Manchester,

not only can you see what's in front of you, but you see it as

if the person in front of you wasn't there and the seats aren't there.

It could replace things like road signs with information.

That's another strong pitch.

So the judges have met all of our tech geniuses

and heard all their ideas.

Now it's time for the judges to decide which

three geniuses will continue their journey to America.

Overall, they are looking for a knowledge and a passion for tech

and how that has ultimately inspired each of them and their ideas.

The thing is, they were all super impressive.

They were all impressive in different ways, yeah.

-This was a lovely idea, don't you think?

-Oh, yes.

In terms of helping other people, I thought that was...

-It's tough.

-I think I would go with one, two, three.

Just everyone check that we are in agreement.

-I think we're there, aren't we?

-We're good?

Fantastic, three.

So the judges have made their final decision.

On this card we have the names of the three

tech geniuses that will continue their journey with us to America.

And they are...

-Elliot.

-Yes!

-Millie.

-Yes!

-And Eashan.

-Yes!

Congratulations, guys.

Commiserations to the rest of you, but well done.

You are absolute geniuses.

So well done.

Sadly we say goodbye to five of our tech geniuses.

But for Eashan, Millie and Elliot,

they continue their journey to America.

Vegas! It's full of energy,

the home of entertainment and also CES,

which stands for Consumer Electronics Show.

It's the largest tech show in the world.

Now, in there is some of the latest

and most mind-blowing technology that you have ever seen.

-Are you excited?

-ALL:

-Yeah!

-Let's see some absolute genius tech.

Come on!

'People travel from all over the world to exhibit

'and visit this tech-stravaganza,'

which every year becomes the home of the latest gadgetry that

technology has to offer.

Oh, look at that! We've got to put you in there.

From the biggest companies in technology to the best innovators,

virtual reality to robots, giant TVs and live demonstrations...

..this place has it all.

We are going through this way. Stick with us.

First up, we're off to meet our genius helper Jeff Joseph to give us

an overview of the biggest technology show in the world.

-Hi, Jeff, great to meet you.

-So good to have you here.

-Thanks for inviting us, it's great.

-So glad to have you here.

Welcome to CES 2016, the greatest show on earth.

You're the only kids from Britain who are allowed in.

-ALL:

-Whoa!

We have over 150,000 people here with 3,600 exhibitors,

introducing 20,000 cool tech products.

So there's a lot to see, so you'd better get going.

Whilst at CES, our techies meet up with companies that have

similar products to their own ideas.

Millie is seeing the very latest in car technology.

-Eashan checks out state-of-the-art virtual reality gadgets.

-Go ahead.

And Elliot looks at a piano that can teach you how to play.

In this particular car, what's new is this display.

It's actually a standard mirror when you want it.

And then you flip that switch and it turns on this display

which is fed live images of what is behind you by a little TV camera.

Whatever you do, don't reverse!

It was great to meet Gentex.

It's made me feel now that my invention can actually be done.

You can take virtual control

of your spacecraft in our game.

So not only do you see what you see in the virtual world,

-but you actually feel it in this pod, too.

-Whoa!

The thing that made it so amazing for me is that it allows

for interaction with the virtual world

and I have never seen anything like it before.

It's pretty cool, man.

-So, Elliot, would you like to try the One Smart Piano?

-Yeah, sure.

The red lights are going to show up on top of the piano

and you just have to hit the keys where the lights are showing up.

No pressure now, Elliot.

Oh, not bad for a first attempt, Elliot.

-Elliot, that was amazing.

-Thank you.

My favourite thing I've seen today was probably the One Smart Piano

because it uses the same principle of keys as my idea.

-Thank you for coming to try it out.

-Thank you.

Good luck with your project.

To see something similar is quite cool

and to see the creator of it is amazing.

-Bye.

-Bye.

Right, tech geniuses, that's the first part

-of your American adventure over. Did you enjoy it? ALL:

-Yeah!

-There was some amazing tech.

-Some great stuff there, wasn't there?

Your trip is going to get even better now.

You guys are so lucky, because we are all going to go to

-California to the Apple headquarters...

-ALL:

-Whoa!

..to meet Sir Jonathan Ive.

-Sound good?

-ALL:

-Yeah.

-Shall we go?

-ALL:

-Yeah!

-I think we should, right.

Our tech geniuses are not only going to be allowed inside

the super hi-tech Apple HQ, but also have a one-on-one meeting

with the chief design officer himself.

This is the end of our journey and it's where we will find out

who is going to be crowned the absolute tech genius.

-Hello, Elliot. Hello, Millie. Hello, Eashan.

-Hello, sir.

And these are their designs.

Elliot, do you want to tell Jonathan a bit about your design?

Yeah, so, my invention is called LED-Keys and it's a new

-and fun way how to teach young children how to type.

-Oh, I see.

I think as well it could be interesting, couldn't it,

if you could figure out some sort of tactile indicator or

encouragement that you're in the right place?

That's the goal, isn't it, That you can type without looking.

-Oh, that's fabulous, isn't it?

-This is Millie's.

-What did you do, Millie?

-The idea is that if you have a camera

that attached to your dashboard that shows you what's in front

and where the road is and a tablet that attached to the

back of your chair, if you sat in the back you see forwards

as if the driver and chair weren't actually there.

You can also play games,

so you could drive around on a skateboard

down the road or you could even play a game with multiplayer

with the person sat next to you.

I mean, there are a lot of cars now that have cameras to help you park,

so in a way you wouldn't need to do this just for the tablet, would you?

-Yeah, that's great.

-And the final idea from Eashan.

This is called Virtual Lab and it is a kind of virtual classroom

and uses virtual reality and augmented reality.

-Oh, it's fantastically ambitious, isn't it?

-It certainly is.

What inspires you to make your designs?

It's about the importance of being curious and inquisitive.

What if there was a completely different approach

to solving this problem?

What could you then do?

Well, thank you, Sir Jonathan, for talking to us and looking

through the ideas. I'm sure you'll agree that they are all geniuses.

They certainly are, aren't they?

But there can be only one Absolute Tech Genius

and the absolute tech genius is...

Millie!

Congratulations. Very well done!

-How do you feel?

-Good!

Millie showed a real passion for technology, which also

inspired her to create a brilliant bit of future tech, both of these

combined convinced our judges that she was our Absolute Tech Genius.

And here's what her idea could look like.

Millie's design is utterly genius.

The mounted HD mini camera at the front of the car feeds a

high res image of the road ahead to a monitor, allowing any

back-seat passenger to play augmented reality games whilst on the road.

And the best thing about it is,

it should stop you from getting carsick.

Millie, you are an absolute... BOTH: tech genius.

I never thought that it would come this far

with just something being in my brain

and now coming to actually meeting people all the way in Apple.

To have him talking to me about my ideas was pretty astounding.

It feels great to be crowned the Absolute Tech Genius

and to know that Sir Jonathan Ive thinks that my idea is a good one.