26/03/2016 Click - Short Edition

a thing of constant fascination and innovation.

So much so, last year the government of the United Arab Emirates held

a contest with a massive $1 million prize up for grabs.

Teams from around the world were invited to take part to demonstrate

how their unmanned, aerial vehicles could improve lives.

We saw everything from fog dissipation, to window cleaning.

Not content with last year's event, Dubai is aiming to be the centre

We have been back to the UAE to meet the pilots set to turn drone

racing professional and establish themselves as world champions.

32 of the best drone pilots from across the globe have gathered

in Dubai for the very first World Drone Prix.

At stake, a huge prize pot of $1 million, with the first prize

They will be flying custom quad copters around this

Some of the track's spines can mechanically move.

Don't worry, they won't move during racing

because this would make an already difficult track almost impossible.

You advise what the track should be like, the circuit itself.

What did you tell them would be a good idea to introduce to

In the previous races, we have only done this on the ground,

we wanted to introduce elevation and get it up off the ground

So we introduced the tower, and they have to go up and over

and it becomes like a roller-coaster.

The pilots must complete 12 laps of the track, making at least one pit

We are in the crew's area, backstage, if you like, at the race.

We were just flying in a field, now we are in the top 32 of the world.

The competition have come in to help them set up their rig.

This is a drone racing team at work, relaxing just before the race.

Is this the pit crew technician doing the really hard work?

Those soldering irons will be busy, because the drones are fitted with

a host of electronics, including GPS tracking and forward-facing cameras.

Sundown, and the semifinals are about to begin.

Last-minute tweaks have been made, and fighting talk rings out

Speed is my game, so we will do well.

Navigators, pilots and pit crews take their positions.

The sun is going down and the race gets off in earnest.

Time for me to get in on the action as well.

When I put these goggles on, I can see what the pilots can see

Put them on, I get the pilot's eye view of the track.

All I can see from here is in standard definition.

They tried to do it in HD, but there was too much latency

and the pilots have to see exactly what is happening.

Confidence is diminished, game faces are on, and now it is

How do you feel going into this race?

The video wasn't good, but it looked perfectly clean.

When you lose, you will blame something other than yourself.

There is a lot on the line, that's for sure.

So, the final race has been run, but there is some confusion

Ladies and gentlemen, to the track race award.

It is a sweet victory for the 15-year-old British pilot,

Luke Bannister, as he scoops the whopping ?250,000

Couldn't have done it without my team.

As fast as these things are, keeping them up in the air

Pilots can get through 40 batteries in a day.

You generally only get about 15 to 20 minutes' life out of one battery.

But a UK company is working on a way of increasing flight time

And Jane has had an exclusive look at its first flight.

I have been flying drones for a few years now on Click.

Behind the scenes, we are always aware of how little

time we have to get the perfect shot before we run out of batteries.

Now there could be a natural solution to substantially

Intelligent Energy in Loughborough have been experimenting with

We have been given exclusive access to their first test flight.

It's the first time we've seen a drone flying with

It is attached to a drone and they have modified.

The fuel cell and fuel weighs about 1.6 kilograms.

This drone can fly for up to two hours on one fuel

cell, around six times longer than the average with a normal battery.

Refuelling with compressed hydrogen is faster, taking just a few minutes

Intelligent Energy have been testing this technology since 2001,

but have focused on drone flights for the last 18 months.

This is the fuel tank, so this is where the hydrogen is.

We have a fan that takes a small amount of heat away

You combine the hydrogen with oxygen from the air with these fans

Well, hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe,

This is where the company sees its trend is where the company sees its

trends being most useful. -- drones. In the industrial industry,

we are looking at agriculture, oil and gas, mapping, forestry

and any other industries that needs We will get into the consumer space,

but initially our target market is Increasing flight time to

an hour or even up to two hours, The company expects to have fuel

cells ready But we will have to wait a bit

longer for a consumer version. I am learning to programme

the new chip on the block. The data is going

from the computer... The BBC has finally unleashed

the Micro Bit. Announced for July, the tiny

programmable computer is being given free to a million schoolkids

in the UK, and hope it will inspire In just a few minutes,

it is possible to create short programmes that turn the Microbit

into a name badge, We are learning how to turn it into

a dice, so when you shake it you get Problem is, it's giving

a number between zero and six. The cool thing is, everyone is

already trying to solve that The Microbit is not a fully fledged

computer like a Raspberry Pi, it is more like an introduction to the

idea of programming, more simple. But it does have an LED display,

thermometer, motion censors, But even

if it's not directly competing with other budget computers,

it has arrived later than promised, which may make it difficult to

incorporate into lesson plans for It is using everything I have learnt

at school, but it is opening me up to a lot more opportunities,

such as allowing me to use the LED. You can take it anywhere with you

as well. Let's hope it does prove

as inspirational as the BBC Micro and the whole home computer

revolution of the 1980s. That is exactly why I got

into this lark in the first place. That is all we have got time

for this week. Thanks for watching,

and we will see you soon.