Episode 3 Technobytes

This is Technobytes.

Just think of it as Technobabble that has shrunk in the wash,

but it's definitely not been ruined.

And that's our randomly-named messaging app with our first

quality query.

Vlogster, what will art be like in the future?

At last, something sensible. Great question, Cameron.

And I know just the girl to help us out.

Morning, Maya.

-Oh, Vloggie, hi, I was literally just thinking about you.

-Were you?

-No. I'm guessing this is business and not pleasure.

-Ooh, how rude.

I just like to keep you busy.

I've got something for you to investigate.

One of our lovely Babblers wants to know what art

is going to be like in the future.

-OK, perfect. Can I just finish my story first?

-Absolutely not.

-All right, let's do it.

-Good. I'm looking forward to this one.

I'm quite DRAWN to it, in fact. DRAWN to it, as in art.

Oh, I'm funny. Whoa, hey! What are you doing?

Ow!

I'm sending Maya off to meet a robot called Paul.

Paul has been designed by a rather clever man called Patrick

to draw portraits like an artist, a real human artist.

Could you describe to me what each part of Paul does?

This arm is a little bit like a human arm, for articulation.

And then it only moves like that. And then...

And then there's an eye that either it moves like that,

-so he can look for something to draw.

-Mm-hm.

And then inside there's a computer that processes the information.

The images from the camera go into the computer and then there is

a programme that reacts to what it sees

and it reacts by making movements.

-And how did you make Paul draw?

-There's two sides.

You have to programme it how to see, how to react

to what it sees and how to move.

I mean, they draw what I'd like to draw when I was a painter.

Because they do what I like to do.

You've programmed it to your own personality, basically,

-what you would like to draw.

-Yeah, in a certain way.

-Maya, Maya!

-Yes, Vlogster.

-You can draw, right?

Erm, yeah, I mean, I'm OK.

Dare I say it, I think it might be time for a Technobabble challenge.

Great, I'm up for that. Patrick, would you mind being our model?

-Nope, no problem.

-Perfect.

In the red corner, he's drawn over 10,000 portraits and is ready

for his next, it's Paul the robot artist!

And in the blue corner, she once drew a picture when she was

ten and it was pinned to her mum's fridge for several years, it's Maya!

Double whammy, double whammy. I've ruined your face.

I've added glasses for special effect. Oh, no!

-Totally wrong.

-I went for circle ones.

BELL RINGS

And that is time. Artists, stop drawing!

All right, so this is my painting, picture, drawing, masterpiece.

Can I see what Paul has done? Right. Lovely.

So, Vlog, what do you think of my picture?

I mean, Maya, that's fantastic, if Patrick was a... What is that?

The winner of the Technobabble challenge is Paul.

BELL RINGS

Right, Vlogster, hold still while I draw a portrait of you.

Make sure you get my best side.

Right, let's see what happens when tech meets art.

Tech-sperts in the Czech Republic want you to stop sketching on

flat paper and start drawing in three dimensions.

To do this, you'll need a 3-D pen, which lets you draw up, down,

backwards, forwards... You get the idea.

You can also solder, burn and cut with it,

opening up loads of creative possibilities.

Brilliant, Vlogster,

but you wouldn't want to chew the end of THAT pen.

I don't have any teeth, so that's not a worry.

Next up, researchers at MIT in America have developed

a tiny origami robot that can fold itself up from a flat sheet of

plastic and then walk, swim, climb or carry a load twice its weight.

This self-folding robot only measures 1cm and

weighs less than 1g.

But even smaller versions could be injected into the human body

to make medical repairs, then dissolve away to nothing.

That is awesome. Kind of puts my origami hat skills to shame.

Er, yeah, slightly.

If you've ever wanted to step inside a painting, then American

artist Mackenzie Cauley has brought that dream one step closer.

He's transformed Vincent van Gogh's The Night Cafe into a virtual

3-D environment.

By digitising parts of the original painting into

some clever computer software, the masterpiece comes alive.

Going to an art gallery may never be the same.

That's VAN GOGH the chart, Vlogster.

Hey, Maya, I do the puns around here and I'll let you,

the viewers, DRAW your own conclusions

about Maya's arty efforts.

Get in. Right, I reckon it's time for another curious question.

Vlogster, could we make another Earth?

Let me see what I can find out.

Maths-mad university students at

Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, America have already worked out

what it might take to build a Death Star, a moon-sized world just

like the one that Luke Skywalker blew up at the end of Star Wars.

The cost of this man-made Earth would be a bank-breaking

£541 trillion, which is more than all the money in the world.

So, what's plan B, I hear you ask?

Nasa scientists have found the most Earth-like planet ever...

Catchy name, isn't it?

Experiments show Kepler is in a Goldilocks zone,

a bit of space that's just the right temperature -

not too hot, not too cold for the planet to have water on the surface,

and that means it could support life.

But don't get too excited just yet. In our fastest spacecraft,

it would take almost 25,000,000 years to get there.

Not even my batteries would last that long. So, here comes plan C.

Closer to home, space scientists are preparing missions for humans

to live on Mars permanently.

Mars doesn't have much of an atmosphere,

a bit like one of Uncle Alan's parties.

It's freezing, with little oxygen and lots of radioactive solar rays,

so you would have to spend all your time indoors.

So people are working on terraforming, where you can change

the atmosphere and environment of a planet to be similar to Earth.

One far-flung idea is to fire lasers at asteroids,

making them collide with Mars.

This would release organic matter and powerful greenhouse gases,

creating more atmosphere and warming things up.

But terraforming Mars could take thousands of years.

If you're lucky, your great-great- great-great-great-great-great

grandkids' kids might be Martians living on an Earth-like world.

Well, at least that gives me time to save up for the rocket flight.

They are very expensive, you know.

And on that note, it's time for me to blast off elsewhere. Laters!