01/01/2016 Click

to tackle gun violence. Now on BBC News, Click.

This week, snow, speed, and coasters.

2015 was the year of attempt drone. Here are special compilations

brought you from Asia, Africa, Europe and the USA. We start with a

range of stories which showed just how many ways we could one day be

using drones. If you thought that they were only good for racing,

think again. Although... The aerial GP is an opportunity for

drawn in to use the as to show off the skill by piloting quad copters

across specially arranged circuits. Drones are fitted with cameras with

pilots using goggles or monitors to see where they are going. They have

to complete several circuits of this course whilst flying through the

obstacles spread around it. What could be simpler? Try flying a few

feet from the ground at 60 mph. Most people get into RC because they

want the pilot. Next thing you know you are playing top gun.

The day's racing draws to a close. Drones have been damaged, skills

have been honed, and victorious racers receive applause from the

piers. The organisers are attempting to take the drawn racers

International. -- drawn racers International.

We have seen and been used for classy photography, for a gratuitous

self these -- for gratuitous selfies, and forgetting packages

about the place. Here in the UAE they have started looking at other

uses for drones. This is called Drones For Good. This is a serious

business. You would not believe the number of issues that can be solved

with the drone. At least when there is so much money up for grabs. For

example, I did not know that fog is an issue in Dubai. Or at least it

was until a group from the University invented a drone four at.

We have a lot of accidents and disasters happening because of the

fog. Air companies and people are really getting annoyed when the

plane is diverted. Using a concept similar to cloud seeding, which

causes rain, this can carry a salty solution which it sprays over at the

fog, breaking the dew point and dispersing the mist.

One thing I did no approach du Barry was its preference for the tall and

the fabulous. With all of this high raise glass about you do need

something to keep it all clean. Bring on the flying squeegee. It has

washer, a squeegee, and we can clean up a maximum of 40 square metres. I

am nervous about flying drones close to buildings, but the sponges

protect the blades, so it is less likely to clash. Crash protection on

something been taken to an entirely new level by this team.

This is fascinating. I have never seen a drone like this before. What

is the point? If the drone colleague against the obstacles, the inside

will just a vertical. This is fantastic, this is what the strap

astronaut into to spin them around. Can you give us examples of where

you can see this being used? This drone can go anywhere for other

drones cannot go. Inside glass buildings, anywhere where there is a

lot of crashes and you cannot have perfect control of the robot.

Anywhere for you can crash of the walls. That is the point.

The pilot is flying the robot inside the house so he does not even see

the robot any more. The only uses the video link from the drone.

Collision resistant drone. They have $1 million to invest into the bright

idea. Congratulations.

We have thermal imaging cameras, the Santa Barbara Fire Department and

our very own fire. What else to be need to throw into the mix of the

story? How about a drone? Emergency services across the globe

are already conducting trials and pilot projects with drones. With

them all imaging cameras as small as these, the drone can be introduced

to a host of different situations. One of the things that we need to

check constantly for is, is it moving ahead, is the winter driving

the head? With a drone, we will be able to do that out ahead of the

fire. To have that kind of capacity will be invaluable.

Here at the Urban Robotics Lab, we're looking at drones that can

work in unusual places. We have never seen a drone that can claim

the walls. It is so loud! And powerful. The drone sticks to the

wall with the thrust generated. It then claims in the wall using its

wheels. It has a camera which can be used to reach difficult places, like

wind turbines, and it requires no expensive infrastructure to work.

The team says that if it falls off it can easily fly itself back on to

Wear it needs to be. -- to Weyrich needs to be. I'm going to go and

brush my here. It has been the year of the drone.

Especially for this guy. He decided to use 54 of them as order of

transport. Seriously, if he flips it upside down he could more than one

in ten seconds. We decided to go to Boston in

February and somehow Dan Simmons got a much easier red than me, not that

I'm bitter. People are looking for an alternative to the car, we need

another means of transport. This is something which could really help to

replace the car. It may not look like much, but the big red M on

the back wheel is more than just a mortar. You can think of it more

like a robot. It responds to your pedal behaviour and weaves itself

seamlessly with your motion. You do not feel like you are on an electric

vehicle, you just feel that the city has shrunk underneath you. We

measure the amount of rotational force. Also speed and position. We

had temperature sensors, sensors which measure the current of the

mortar drive and the battery. The idea is that you buy the whole

wheel, complete with tyre, so that it can fit most ordinary pushbikes.

Inside that red disc, and now, you do not get a choice of colour, and

we're close sensors and computers set. Alongside electric motor that

gives you the push. It is quite a substantial push. Just

touch the pedal and the world goes flying. The battery inside is good

for about 30 miles and it takes about four hours to charge up. If

you need extra juice while you are pedalling around then you can

backpedal and that energy from braking and go straight back into

retard battery. -- recharge the battery.

An app allows you to track your journey, share data with other users

and, importantly, change the wheel's response

from turbo to detecting if you're going uphill,

for example, before it gives you that extra shove.

Immediately, it is really bouncy, but it is like there is hardly any

It is almost like I am just on the flat.

It is the ride that can be tweaked with your app or directly improved

through firmware updates, just like your phone is.

Step outside anywhere in the city and you can see quite how many bikes

there are, so of course, keeping them safe is important.

Here we are looking at a prototype of a hi-tech docking system.

The finished device is going to be usable via any NFC connected phone.

First of all you will use your phone's GPS to find the nearest

docking station and book your spot, and then, by touching

here with your smart phone you will be able to lock

This steel bar is meant to be ten times stronger than your average

bike lock, and if anyone tries to tamper with your bike once

it is locked, you're going to get an alert on your phone,

plus the person who's tampering with it will be filmed by an HD

camera built in, so there's no escape for those bike thieves.

More transport tech later, but first, to these.

The cameras on our smart phones have become so good of late that we found

ourselves wondering if we could make an entire episode

It is Mark on camera one and two, Simon on three and four,

Jen on five, Nima on six and seven, Ben on eight, and this

We are using a real mix of smart phones, all of which can of course

shoot high-definition video, but that is just the most basic

We need these things to behave like pro cameras.

Actually, most phones will let us take them out of full auto mode,

so we can decide what part of the picture is in focus

and decide for ourselves on the exposure.

Now for those who are not fans of shaky mobile wobble vision,

this mini dolly and this battery-powered self-steadying

gimbal should keep things nice and smooth.

But for things to look pro, they also need to sound pro,

and this is where the phones really fault short.

The onboard microphones are fine for capturing the sounds

of the environment, but to make sure we are heaard over the background

we need clip-on mics that we can get closer to our mouths.

We are just testing out all the different phones

Unfortunately none of the mics we tried, including the market-

leading Rode Mic, which plugs straight into the phone,

sounds good enough us, so we are using a concoction

of cables and splitters to connect our pro radio mics

Even then, most phones will only let you listen to the audio before

and after the recording, only the iPhone lets you monitor

the sound during the filming so it will be interesting to hear

the results when you have to guess at setting the recording volume.

But the biggest pain by far was editing this monster.

It was hugely - some would say stupidly -

to film and edit the whole programme using video from so many different

sources with all of this new tech in just five days.

Pinnacle on the iPad was intuitive and simple, but as soon as we tried

using footage not shot on an Apple product, surprise, surprise,

Our main editing machines, the Microsoft Surfaces really

struggled under the weight of all that footage,

and to be honest, currently it seriously looks like we will not

If that is in fact the case, I hope you have enjoyed

Now, we do like to get about on this programme, as you know,

and in Kenya earlier this year we discovered something

which the residents of one village were getting rather excited about.

So what has attracted 3,000 people to the school hall to hear speeches

Well, it's the fact that this town will,

for the first time, have access to information that a lot

of the world has taken for granted for years.

These guys have come here today to hear about the outernet.

Outernet is an idea conjured up by this man.

It is a way of giving people in unconnected communities

access to information, without having to put down

lots of wires or use expensive data tariffs on mobile phone networks.

The first receiver is being installed in the chief's house.

When it is blinking it shows you when the signal is weak.

The box, or pillar acts as a Wi-Fi hotspot for smart phones and people

can come here and download content which they can then read later.

It looks like there is stuff going on there.

This is not full two-way internet access.

Instead, the satellite continually broadcasts small portions of the web

over and over, the bits that the team deem the most useful.

That data is received and then stored locally on these boxes.

No communication with the internet or others,

And this puts it at a disadvantage compared to the other

projects try to get poorer and remote communities online.

Google, for example, is working on a project

which is a network of high-altitude helium balloons that will boost

internet connections across much wider areas, beyond coverage

And both Facebook and Google are looking at increasing access

Crucially these projects will give people truly two-way

Anything that is related to bidirectional communications,

the internet, to be able to provide that to the entire world,

those are multibillion-dollar projects, with huge time horizons

Our solution that we are offering is instantaneous.

It is a matter of spending $1 billion and waiting ten years

In fact, he's planning to launch his own satellites,

these mini cube sats, as early as next year,

which will broadcast to these even smaller receivers which do not even

These can be placed in a pocket, this type of receiver,

Not only will we be selling, we will publish plans on how you can

If you can build on yourself from commonly available parts,

what is to prevent anyone anywhere in the world from being able

Including in countries that would not want that kind of content?

Including countries that have massive firewalls,

Including countries that have great firewalls or regularly monitor and

That is one way we can bypass those restrictions.

Now, I like to have a bit of fun on this show,

but without the risk of making myself ill.

So, we sent LJ Rich to Germany last summer to get a new take

on rollercoasters and to give her the ride of her life.

What better place to test new coaster tech than a park filled

with people who know their air time from their iversions.

I am here because one company thinks it has cracked a very difficult

You have to keep very tightly synchronised to the real ride,

so you do not approach a virtual curve before

What we are doing is, we are measuring the actual position

on the track with a special sensor, which is attached to the wheel

That flashing light near the front wheel counts the rotations and syncs

This means if the speed varies a little with each ride the program

In fact, VRcould be the key to rejuvenating old rides,

giving this 30-year-old family coaster a new lease of life.

I understand my uncle got a similar effect using different

Now, we finish our 2015 roundup in Japan, with two different types

Japan is in a hurry - to make cars differently.

So why are Japanese carmakers assembly-lining up to create

what in the past has proven to be inexpensive,

impractical, and unloved white elephant?

The answer is as much political as it is about technology.

Ahead of the 2020 Olympics here, they are thinking big.

Traditionally, hydrogen has been produced using fossil fuels,

but Japan does not have any of those, so Honda has created

Ideally produced from renewable sources, and it has designed

stations that do not just store the hydrogen,

It may take a while to produce, but the beauty of hydrogen

is its only waste product is the pure water emitted

Japan has set its sights on being the leading exporter

of these superclean cars to the rest of the world.

Toyota recently delivered the first of its new fuel-cell cars to owners

in Japan, the US, Denmark, Germany, and here in the UK.

Toyota say this is the world's first mass-produced hydrogen car,

designed from the ground up, which means they have not taken

an existing model and put a hydrogen tank in it.

They put the tanks in the back and essentially the engine

with all the chemical reactions going on between the two front

It is a little bit more heavy than a normal car, but its stats

rack up - 111 top speed, 0-62 in nine seconds or so.

But there is one statistic that may concern you.

It's a safe if slow start to Japan's water-powered revolution.

Not just any DeLorean, that would be impressive enough,

this is a DeLorean from Back To The Future.

You have got the drive circuits here, the plutonium chamber

measurements over here, this is the time bank with current

Speedometer, that has got to get to 88mph,

Marty, and back here, the all-important flux capacitor.

Right, why are we here today? Two reasons.

Firstly, all of this, and secondly, how this baby is powered.

TRANSLATION: 30 years ago, I watched Back To The Future

and I thought, yes, in 30 years, you should be able

but ten years ago I realised I had not seen it happen yet,

so I decided to start research in bio ethanol

One day, he hopes that, just like in the film,

we will be able to put rubbish and even clothes straight into cars.

For the moment, his company uses large processing plants to extract

sugar from the cotton in used clothes and turn it

I thought that was brilliant, brilliant enough to miss my flight

Never mind, I think I have found an alternative means