:00:00. > :00:29.Next is Click and that's followed by Newswatch.
:00:30. > :00:35.Sometimes it feels like everyone does.
:00:36. > :00:38.No tech exhibition is complete without a drone or two these days
:00:39. > :00:43.and over a million of them were sold last year in the US alone.
:00:44. > :00:46.We have played with all types of drones in the last couple of years.
:00:47. > :00:54.A new generation of drones have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves.
:00:55. > :00:57.They can self-fly on a preplanned road, track fast-moving
:00:58. > :01:03.objects and last week one even managed to land on a moving car.
:01:04. > :01:06.They have become so popular that nowadays they have their own events
:01:07. > :01:09.and this week, we are at the UK's first festival and awards ceremony
:01:10. > :01:23.Of course, all of these things come with nice flashing lights
:01:24. > :01:25.but more importantly, great cameras these days.
:01:26. > :01:29.And after all, that's really the point of them, isn't it?
:01:30. > :01:32.You can get great aerial photography and pull off some amazing shots.
:01:33. > :01:37.I think I can get this one all the way down there.
:01:38. > :01:46.Drones give you a whole new view of the world and it's led to
:01:47. > :01:56.Over 600 drone-tastic shots were submitted to this year's Dronefest.
:01:57. > :02:19.If it is too trashed the temptation may be to just chuck it away, which
:02:20. > :02:22.you are not allowed to do because you have to dispose of e-waste
:02:23. > :02:29.But it has to be said that e-waste is one of the fastest
:02:30. > :02:34.We throw away an estimated 40 million tons
:02:35. > :02:37.of technology every year, often filled with toxic chemicals, metals
:02:38. > :02:43.It is the equivalent of dumping 800 laptops every second
:02:44. > :02:50.and as we reported before, one answer is recycling.
:02:51. > :02:52.But now there is another idea which admittedly sounds pretty
:02:53. > :02:57.Dan Simmons has been to South Germany where researchers are
:02:58. > :03:00.trying to create electronics which, once we're done with them,
:03:01. > :03:11.We're getting suited up because inside the labs, the
:03:12. > :03:16.Unwanted particles, such as hair or dead skin may, affect test results
:03:17. > :03:19.and for some experiments, even the normal mix of gases in
:03:20. > :03:26.the air would start oxidizing the organic substances being tested.
:03:27. > :03:30.So, inside the box, it is nitrogen only.
:03:31. > :03:35.And this light that is almost entirely biodegradable.
:03:36. > :03:38.This is one of their most recent advancements.
:03:39. > :03:41.Basically this can biodegrade, 99% of it can go into the ground, but it
:03:42. > :03:52.is flexible and light for displays like advertising or night displays.
:03:53. > :03:56.At the end of which, they can simply be thrown away.
:03:57. > :03:58.Lighting elements for screens are tricky parts to
:03:59. > :04:01.throw away safely so the team have been experimenting with these
:04:02. > :04:09.As you can see, we have some materials, which are fluorescent.
:04:10. > :04:13.We want to use them as organic semiconductors, which is the part
:04:14. > :04:27.With these molecules, they are from nature.
:04:28. > :04:29.Some of them come from plants, some are vitamins,
:04:30. > :04:40.And you can work with these with the electronics so that more of what
:04:41. > :04:49.Printing silver foil just a few nanometres thick onto
:04:50. > :04:51.a fully biodegradable substrate, that is the plastic looking stuff
:04:52. > :04:54.that is usually used today in food packaging, means that this
:04:55. > :05:03.The team want to create temporary sensors that could decompose
:05:04. > :05:10.In the future, many devices will be connected to the Internet
:05:11. > :05:14.That only works with a lot of sensors.
:05:15. > :05:17.We think it is key that the devices themselves are biodegradable, so you
:05:18. > :05:22.After half a year they will be gone, and you don't harm the environment.
:05:23. > :05:24.We are trying to adapt the architecture of our electronic
:05:25. > :05:27.devices, so we will be able to use biodegradable materials that are
:05:28. > :05:40.But the possibilities of organic electronics go beyond us simply
:05:41. > :05:48.Could this be the start of a sensor that could be put
:05:49. > :05:54.inside of our bodies to simply decompose within us?
:05:55. > :05:57.A sensor that we don't need to touch once it is inside.
:05:58. > :05:59.Have a look at the plastic substance.
:06:00. > :06:04.That is largely made of cellulose and degrades much like paper.
:06:05. > :06:07.Here on the top is coal and burnt wood mixed with a special
:06:08. > :06:15.If you have ever had your body stitched up
:06:16. > :06:18.for any reason, and they just left the stitches in to dissolve, that is
:06:19. > :06:26.It all could disintegrate inside the body.
:06:27. > :06:30.To measure how much electricity goes from one point to
:06:31. > :06:33.the other depending on how much we bend it, and that is
:06:34. > :06:36.down to the molecules being mixed between the carbon and that special
:06:37. > :06:45.Doctors would be able to monitor what is going on from inside the
:06:46. > :06:49.body without the need for a second operation to remove the sensor.
:06:50. > :06:52.Small amounts of inert metals could also be used that pass
:06:53. > :06:57.The main aim of this project, funded by the German government,
:06:58. > :07:04.is to clean up the next generation of tech.
:07:05. > :07:06.The whole process will be on row to row.
:07:07. > :07:10.These rows go up to two km in terms of material.
:07:11. > :07:22.And before long the fully produced device will come out like newspaper.
:07:23. > :07:24.This is mass-produced throw-away electronics?
:07:25. > :07:33.We can use them for lighting applications or solar panels.
:07:34. > :07:40.Did that guy just say he can print solar cells onto a piece
:07:41. > :07:45.Not yet but those substrates, that plastic looking stuff is actually
:07:46. > :07:48.much more closer in behaviour to paper than it is to plastic.
:07:49. > :07:56.It will biodegrade naturally and what they're hoping to do is to
:07:57. > :07:59.print photovoltaic material on the top and therefore make solar panels
:08:00. > :08:02.that you can literally print like a newspaper and that would biodegrade
:08:03. > :08:10.in around six months after you threw it away. But it is 5-10 years away.
:08:11. > :08:14.Anything we can look forward to the shorter-term?
:08:15. > :08:17.In the shorter term, it is possible we could see things
:08:18. > :08:20.like sensors that can be put anywhere and then biodegrade.
:08:21. > :08:27.And also displays, those little lights we saw in the
:08:28. > :08:29.film, 1000-2000 of those together could be quite beautiful for outdoor
:08:30. > :08:33.effects like signage and eventually a screen all of itself that we could
:08:34. > :08:53.On show back at Dronefest in London, some
:08:54. > :08:56.of the latest drones that will let you take those award-winning shots.
:08:57. > :08:59.That is the thing with drones, you really can get footage
:09:00. > :09:04.I caught up with Rob Johnson, one of the Dronefest finalists
:09:05. > :09:08.and yes, that is him on the mountain by the way, to talk to him about
:09:09. > :09:18.I was up there working in the winter months and it was
:09:19. > :09:29.a blue sky day, I went in and took the drone in and made a film.
:09:30. > :09:32.You didn't have a second camera operator.
:09:33. > :09:35.How did you pull off some of those shots, because you are
:09:36. > :09:38.walking away from the drone as it is coming towards you?
:09:39. > :09:42.Basically what I would do is get to where I wanted to start filming
:09:43. > :09:45.and hand-launch the drone, set up my shot, walk through it, set up
:09:46. > :09:50.And if you look really carefully, there are shots were you can see
:09:51. > :09:53.my thumb on the stick as I'm walking to try to get that
:09:54. > :09:59.So, everyone who has got a drone is, of course, now a professional drone
:10:00. > :10:05.camera operator but maybe you could offer a few tips?
:10:06. > :10:09.My first tip is to learn to fly a drone but something that isn't
:10:10. > :10:12.Perhaps buy one that hasn't got a GPS,
:10:13. > :10:20.So that you can get used to the various controls, left, right,
:10:21. > :10:25.Yeah, actually be able to keep it in a hover and move it forwards
:10:26. > :10:27.and backwards and perhaps do a figure eight around the kitchen,
:10:28. > :10:31.so that you can get used to controlling it when it is pointing
:10:32. > :10:48.So here are some of the entries that did.
:10:49. > :10:50.The closest I could come would be, peaceful.
:10:51. > :11:17.It is a feeling that everything is perfect at this moment.
:11:18. > :11:24.That is it for the short person of Click this week, check out the
:11:25. > :11:33.longer version on either player. That's an order. And feel free to
:11:34. > :11:40.follow us on Twitter throughout the week -- back on iPlayer.