16/01/2016 Click - Short Edition

You don't have to go far in the US to realise that everything is far.

It is one of the countries where driving

for hours is the norm, and internal flights are just a thing you do.

Today, I will see the beginnings of a brand-new mode of transport that

In the Nevada desert just outside Las Vegas,

a secure site, a cabin, and 20 lengths of metal tube -

tube that may one day propel you from Los Angeles to San Francisco

It is an idea originally proposed in 2013 by the boss of SpaceX,

A network of tubes carrying high-speed carrier

Realising perhaps it was too massive a job for him alone,

and invited engineering teams from around the world to conduct

their own research and pursue their own Hyperloop solutions.

Hyperloop Technologies is one of the teams that has risen to

the challenge, and it is led by rocket scientist Brogan BamBrogan.

It is obviously still in the very early stages, but if all goes well,

the 58 acres of desert on this site will see some pretty spectacular

The reason we are at this site is we will be running

We will have a mile and a half where we will dump up to 8 megawatts

of power into a custom-built propulsion linear electric motor,

so we will eventually be going from zero up to 550 kilometres per hour.

When the vehicle goes through, there will not be much space.

It is a completely new network of transportation.

I think the only thing that is odd is that

people of our generation have not seen a new form of transportation.

It is because of the technology and the time is now.

Brogan seems pumped about the idea, but it just seems so radical,

It is hard to imagine it ever happening.

To find out more, we have been to Hyperloop's

In the hipster heart of downtown Los Angeles, designers and engineers

are building, testing and trying to perfect technologies which will

propel pressurised pods capable of carrying passengers and freight at

speeds of up to 700 miles an hour in low-pressure tubes.

The pods will float on air with electromagnetic motors inside

It is a very Los Angeles engineering office.

This team here is working on the propulsion system.

This team is working on the pod design.

Some of the team here are working on the robotic welding.

This is where the engineering occurs.

This is where we will be constructing the actual pods, and

this building right now is actually going to be ready in a month.

That is the start of a long list of challenges this project faces

Would people really want to get inside a vacuum tube and be

The cost of putting anything on stilts is expensive, and the thought

of building that across California sounds very expensive to me.

Whether this will actually see the light of day,

While Hyperloop Technologies is concerned with making

their kit work, this new form of transport faces struggles

With the pods travelling so fast, how will they slow down

There are questions about whether that is doable or not

given the time you would need to accelerate

up to 700 miles an hour and then back down again.

You will have to have a lot of gap between the different pods

Whether you can get the through-pod of people.

There are a set of challenges for this to overcome

Even though their test facility is still being constructed in Nevada,

the team here think they will have a working prototype later this year.

There is a lot of scepticism surrounding the Hyperloop

technology, but the engineers and designers in that building over

there are people who have worked on spacecraft, and they have a genuine

belief that the work they are doing here will change

Here in Vegas this week there were many companies showing

their latest robot creations which they claim will improve

Now, inevitably that includes being our Facebook companions.

-- Now, inevitably that includes being our faithful companions.

There's been so much hype in this area we thought it was time

we tested out the possibilities with someone who could do with

I've just picked up a very special delivery.

A robot which mimics some characteristics of a real cat.

It costs $100, about ?70, and for that you get a cat which moves,

and even purrs when you interact with it.

We have a number of sensors and animatronics to make this

apparently act the way a real cat does.

On its back there is a sensor, that works.

I can stroke his cheeks and it will make him very happy.

There's a light sensor on his head which means

when it goes dark he knows it's dark as well

It's aimed at people who want company, who may not be able

or allowed to look after a real pet.

We don't think this is a replacement for a pet,

but we've tried to create this interactive companion

that is familiar and has characteristics

But the real test for this kind of device is if they can really

recreate what it feels like to have a real pet sat on your lap.

So I dropped into Lake Park, a senior care home in California.

I'm feeling cat-deprived right now because my cat died one year ago

and, for various reasons, I haven't thought I could get another one yet.

I've had cats for many years and this is very nice.

After a while I think the novelty would wear off.

It's not just Hasbro experimenting with robotic companion technology.

It's now being used to treat patients all over the world,

Its makers believe robots can stimulate the brain,

helping to deal with things like dementia and Alzheimer's.

But, unlike the $100 Hasbro cat, PARO costs around $5,000,

PARO has good stimulations to the human brain.

Alan proved a welcome addition to the residents at Lake Park

and Hasbro intends to release more products aimed at companionship

However, he wasn't universally popular.

That is it for the short version of Click. The long version is available

on our player. We are heading to San Francisco for owl programme next

week, which is about 8.5 hours' drive. Or a 1.5 hour flight from the

airport. I know which one eye and choosing. Follow us on Twitter

throughout the week. Goodbye.