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Up, Up and Away

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border that needed to be resolved.

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Now on BBC News, it is time for

Click.

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This week, caveman, moon rabbit,

space turtle!

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Welcome to China, to Shenzhen.

Believe it or not, this place was

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once a small fishing village.

Yeah... Not any more. Now it is a

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mega- city of nearly 20 million

people. It is most famous for

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creating consumer electronics, often

imitations of premium devices. But

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as China has opened its doors to

international trade in the last

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decade, it has undergone a

transformation, making strides

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toward becoming a global power and

moving away from the image of being

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a simple manufacturer of good, fake

or otherwise, to one of innovation,

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especially technology. Made in China

is fast becoming designed in China.

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Next week, we will visit some of the

companies that call Shenzhen home,

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but this week, we are meeting this

guy. This is Little Cloud, and

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recently, he has gone where no total

has gone before. He has just

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completed a test flight of a journey

that one day might take humans to

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near space. This is the traveller

project. We have seen this kind of

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stratospheric helium project before.

We visited World View back in

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February in the US to see their

enormous inflatable.

I think you

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have the world's biggest table.

And

a Spanish outfit, Zero to Infinity,

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is also trying something similar. So

why does the travel project was made

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director feel he can beat them to

it.

We want to be the first one. We

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need to try hard to become the first

one. Because, in Shenzhen, the

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environment is very good, and a lot

of people want to do big things. The

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government supports us. So, I think

that Shenzhen gives us a very good

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environment to accelerate the

progress.

The secret, though, is

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also in the science.

The balloon

material looks quite ordinary, but

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of course, it is not. It is a

special kind of polyethylene which

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has to resist the damaging effects

of ultraviolet and ozone. It needs

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to be able to stop the really,

really tiny molecules of helium from

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escaping.

This kind of space tourism

is billed as being cheaper and safer

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than rocket -based alternatives

being trialled by Virgin Galactic

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and SpaceX.

Normal people, even

older ones, can do this. You don't

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need a suit. You must be very strong

to be an astronaut and trained for

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many days and years. However, this

does not need that.

Why did you

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choose a total.

That is a good

question. -- turtle. Because the

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turtle has a long life. Sometimes it

can be living for more than 100

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years! The turtle can live in water,

it can survive in an environment

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without oxygen.

Is a cruel to send a

total up there?

Hmm... What can I

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say? I just say we need to do this

kind of experiment before human

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beings in the near space. We need to

pick up a kind of animal.

Hmm...

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Well, as usual, not a great life

being an animal involved in human

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exploration. While these guys are

busy trying to win a race to space,

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others are trying to put a rose on

the moon. Unfortunately, this time,

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it is not a real dog. -- you may

remember we visited the Indian team

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start-up, Indus. They are one of

five teams competing for a

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20,000,000-dollar prize if they are

the first company to land and strive

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a robot on the moon. -- drive. And

one thing we learned while we were

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there was that to save costs, they

are sharing with a Japanese

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competitor, iSpace. Now we are

paying them a visit.

This is the

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space suit. And this is a hammer to

break something.

OK. Well, with the

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important stuff out of the way, time

to talk space. What inspired you to

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enter this challenge?

I have always

been interested in space. However,

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someone said there was a lunar race,

why not help?

It may be a small

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operation, but what they lack in

size they certainly make up for in

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style. It is not just the skyhigh

rents of Tokyo responsible for the

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diminished dimensions off of the

Tokyo office, it is also because of

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the planned to hitch a ride on the

Team Indus ship means they only have

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to build the brother. A -- rover.

They are trying to create it so that

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it does not collide with anything.

It will be steered and moved one

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step at a time to give everyone time

to think as it gradually moves

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across the surface. Mind you, you

still need the very best pilots and

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technicians in the business to

command and strive this thing.

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Seriously? Oh, man! This is just a

demo for numpties like me to use,

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but the real prototype is being

developed just across the office.

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That will be the one that actually

goes to the moon, well, if nothing

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goes wrong, say, buy, letting me

touch it. -- by. It is so light.

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Just four kilograms. Remarkable.

I

am John Walker, the chief engineer.

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The worst thing that can happen as

we go to the moon and for whatever

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reason we don't get any function. We

are trying to win, but at the end of

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the day, we want to keep going back

to the moon again and again. So we

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need that starting point, we need

data. We need simulations.

That is

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why a huge part of the mission's

cost goes towards testing, and that

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means rigourous testing on the

wheels, control systems,

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electronics, and perhaps most

crucially of all, the communication

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system. Of course, it is not just

Team Indus and Hakuto in the

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competition, there is Moon Express,

and Synergy Moon, made up of six

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continents. They all have contracts,

but when they take off is anyone's

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gas.

It is very secretive. -- guess.

What happens if you find out they

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launch in November.

It is possible.

However, it is very difficult to

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launch without any notification

beforehand. So I am still very... I

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am sometimes nervous when they will

make an announcement.

Just like the

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other teams, iSpace is about more

than just one mission to the moon.

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They are hoping that the data they

gather and the skills they learn

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could have much more profound

complications after the mission

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whether they win or not.

We

recognise this race is just the

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start of everything in the future.

And we think that the moon is the

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best place to mine resources and

that includes dual in space. This is

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the first step for this

establishment.

There is certainly a

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loss that could go wrong. Besides

the perils of space, they still need

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to spend a huge deal of cashier on

Earth before anything can take off.

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-- cash here. One thing is for sure,

though, we are so excited about this

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race to the moon. But what has

become apparent if it is not just

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about getting their first, it is not

just about the prizemoney, it is

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just as important to get data back

and build up this knowledge to be

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able to go there again and again and

again in the future. And when these

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guys launch, we are going to bring

back to you. -- that. This week in

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the tech world, a British inventor

set the first world speed record for

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flying a body controlled jet engine

power suit. Richard flew across a

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lake in waiting reaching 22 miles

per hour. Snapchat finally admitted

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those specs where a mistake. After

selling over 150,000 of them. And

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Weimo have admitted they are getting

rid of the human safety drivers that

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usually sit in the front in case

khazanah function, there will

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however be a human sitting in the

back of the car for the time being

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at least. An autonomous vehicle in

Las Vegas crashed last week on its

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first day. It recognised the vehicle

in front of it and stopped, but the

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human driver did not, hitting the

shuttle. Silly humans. A robot has

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been designed that can summon and

operate elevators. It has been

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described as a good robot. They want

the skills to be used for search and

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rescue missions in the future. It is

not 2017 without a robot that can

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call a left. And in 2017 fashion,

Uber announced they have joined

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forces to build autonomous flying

taxis. They say they will be

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completely electric and will be used

at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

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We will see.

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That is pretty good. But this week,

I have been taking a look at some

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technology that aims to question

your perception of taste. Here at

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the University of Sussex, levitating

food is being served up. Yes, that

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is right, liquids and solids can

float in the near before being

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directly fed into your mouth. --

thin air. It works through high

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frequency sound that traps food in

midair. The idea being that the heat

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generated by the sound waves could

make flavour more intense. I put it

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to the test trying identical samples

of each taste from the device. It

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tastes sweet. Sorry, there is no

delicate way of doing this.

Did you

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get it?

Yes, and I would say that

that was more intense. Wow. This

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time, I got it, and it tasted very

sweet. I I think it is sweet and

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cereal. Considering how small the

pieces work, I did not get much

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flavour. -- were. I was

concentrating more. It is an

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interesting case experience in the

laboratory. I know you want it in

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the real world to make it possible

for a chef to make something and

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then directly transfer it into

somebody's mouth.

That is the

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inspiration. We are trying to figure

out how to do that. I can show you

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it now. This mimics the

presentation. When the chef is

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finished cooking, he puts it in one

side and he can control it. Like how

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fast you release the item. It makes

it a desirable experience.

If you

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feel a desperate need to amaze your

guest with tacky astronomy, you

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might be interested in this!

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This is a 3-D liquid printer. It is

a lots more than most of the 3-D

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printers we have shown you, and it

will create a substance that look

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something like this. A small, edible

bite in eight caviar like

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consistency. -- a caviar-like. This

is passionfruit, but you can use any

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sort of natural ingredient to create

intense flavours, and the app will

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guide you through what flavours

might go together. Inside the

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machine right now are some

concentrated passionfruit. For the

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sake of demonstration I am going to

try to create something that looks

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like a berry but tastes like

passionfruit. Maybe I will impress

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my guests with it. Let's give it a

go. I create the shape that I want

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here on the app. The phone is

connected by Bluetooth to the

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device, so to get it going, I just

press the blade button.

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That took under five minutes to come

together. Quite fascinating to

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watch. As the pieces went in I

wasn't convinced they were going to

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stick together. The structure is not

perfect,, I will admit, but the big

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question is, how does it taste? It

is just made of passionfruit, so it

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should taste like passionfruit.

Which it does, but rather than

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tasting of concentrated

passionfruit, I would say that

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actually tastes a bit die looted.

That is probably because some of the

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water is with it. However

flavoursome, or not, the device's

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creations may have been, in their

current form they do not muster up a

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great deal of food. So I did finish

filming, rather than looking forward

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to lunch.

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Welkin to be SEG electronics mega

market in Shenzen. -- welcome to be.

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It is one of many in Asia, and it is

here that you come to buy anything

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and everything electronic. This is

also where you can bulk buy new

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components Manufacturer and new

device. This is we get lithium ion

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batteries for your laptops,

smartphones, anything, really. What

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if you didn't need these at all?

We

created the first battery free

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phone, which harvests in a power

from ambient light and ambient RF

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signal so that we can completely

power the whole phone by just

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ambient RF energy. And elemental

batteries. You can make a phone call

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to another cell phone or another

landline.

By stripping back

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components to the bare minimum,

Vamsi and his team have successfully

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made calls over Skype. They take

advantage of something called

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analogue back scatter, which

reflects pre-existing waves found

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all around us to communicate a

message. Right now this only works

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in the laboratory, but the team are

working on improving its range

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beyond ten metres. For the moment,

batteries do the job. But we all

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wish we could charge that little bit

faster, and last longer. Especially

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when it comes to electric vehicles,

which takes several hours to charge.

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And the race is most definitely on.

Japanese giant Toshiba has just

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unveiled a prototype of its

next-generation supercharged ion

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battery, made of a unique material.

The company claims this battery of

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titanium oxide will charge in just

six minutes, and deliver a range of

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over 200 miles on a single charge.

But it will be a couple of years yet

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until we see real results. And in

the event of a natural disaster,

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being cut off from the grid is

something that can be

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life-threatening. After the Petter

Rico disaster, Kaesler boss Elon

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Musk stepped in, offering a free

battery grid for a hospital on the

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weatherbeaten island. -- Puerto Rico

disaster. He is also halfway through

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his 100 day challenge to install the

world's three grid in Australia.

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Tesla says so far, so good. But it

isn't all rosy for Elon Musk. Recent

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production of his Model Three car

has stalled due to battery

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installation is use. Only 222

vehicles were built in this year's

0:18:510:18:57

third quarter, way below the 1500

targets, leading to lawsuits and

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drops in share value. But how about

this? A battery made their -- made

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of air. Yes, air. Deep in the Swiss

Alps, there is a solution which

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could be about to be rolled out to

the masses. Nick Kwek took a deeper

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look. I am on my way to this guy's

Batcave. No, he is not the Swiss

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Bruce Wayne. He has a cave that acts

like a giant battery.

This is the

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mountain where our plan to space.

While.

Yes, quite enormous.

I am

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being given a private tour of his

prototype powerplant harnesses the

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power of compressed air.

Welcome to

our tunnel.

Oh, my goodness.

Yeah.

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We drive now 700 metres. That is

where the plant begins.

So we are

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not actually going deeper

underground? We are just going

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further into the mountainside?

Exactly. The further you get into

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the mountain, the more rock and

mountain is above you, so we can

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hold the pressure that you are

building in the planned. -- plant.

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The system works by pumping air into

the side of a mountain and storing

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it tight me until there is a demand

for electricity. Like a battery, it

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springs into action when you need

power, releasing the air rapidly

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through turbines which generate the

electricity.

Here we already have

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the hard, compressed air, flowing

through the sprites. As you can see,

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that is quite insulated. We have the

valves to control the flow, and on

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the other side you can see that

pluck, closing the plant.

-- plaque.

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Soaring energy harvested from

renewable sources to use later means

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we can have electricity when the sun

is down or there is no wind. This is

0:21:010:21:06

where the magic happens?

Yeah. This

is the first plug, 100 metres, 120

0:21:060:21:12

metres down the line, we have the

exact same plug, to seal off the two

0:21:120:21:17

ends of the chamber. It is 6.8 tons.

Pretty easy to move, then. That put

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your strength to the test. My

goodness. That's crazy. Do not want

0:21:220:21:42

to be in here when it is filled up

with all that hair out. -- that air.

0:21:420:21:49

There are already two function in

power plants which utilise existing

0:21:490:21:52

compression tack. One in Germany,

and one in the United States. But

0:21:520:21:56

this system has improved efficiency

by over 30%, and the secret behind

0:21:560:22:00

it is this giant concrete block. And

what is inside it. So all that hot

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hair that is piped in, it comes here

to the thermal chamber. -- what air.

0:22:050:22:11

That is chock-a-block full of 75

tons of gravel. As the air comes in,

0:22:110:22:16

it cools down, because the transfers

that each to the gravel inside. The

0:22:160:22:20

cold air comes out of this hole in

the ground, which fills up this

0:22:200:22:23

massive, 120 metres long tunnel. It

is stored here until there is a need

0:22:230:22:29

for power, at which point a valve is

opened and the air rushes back

0:22:290:22:33

through the gravel, reheating and

expanding in the process, so it is

0:22:330:22:36

warm enough to safely turn be

turbines. That is the kicker.

We can

0:22:360:22:41

increase the efficiency of the

system from the 40% of existing

0:22:410:22:44

plants, to above 70% in our case.

This prototype only generates 1

0:22:440:22:50

megawatt of energy, which is a tiny

fraction of the several 100 found in

0:22:500:22:55

regular size powerplants. And you

need a mountain with a ready-made

0:22:550:23:02

cave children to decide for it to

work. This current prototype could

0:23:020:23:05

potentially power 100 homes for

one-hour, with one K of discharge.

0:23:050:23:12

-- to three Mac. It is scalable,

which means that if you scale the

0:23:120:23:16

top 100 times, it could power a

nearby city for half a day.

We are

0:23:160:23:20

hoping to commercialise it. It can

absolutely be a component of the

0:23:200:23:23

National Grid or even the European

grid. This technology is not limited

0:23:230:23:27

to Switzerland. It will be applied

in other places around the world,

0:23:270:23:30

where it is necessary to dispatch

the production and consumption of

0:23:300:23:33

renewable energy.

That was Nick. We

will have more from Shenzen in next

0:23:330:23:41

week's programme. Here is a thing.

If you have ever wanted to meet us

0:23:410:23:46

and see us perform live, you are in

luck. Make a note of this address.

0:23:460:23:50

This is where you go to get tickets

for the forthcoming Click live show,

0:23:500:23:55

which is happening very soon. You

will be able to say hello to us, and

0:23:550:24:00

you can also experience some of the

things you've seen on the programme

0:24:000:24:04

lives. Tickets are running out, so

that's where you go. Do it now. We

0:24:040:24:07

look forward to seeing you there.

Thanks for watching. We will see you

0:24:070:24:11

soon.

0:24:110:24:29

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