Flying COWs Restoring Puerto Rico Connectivity

Digital Planet

• Episode: Flying COWs Restoring Puerto Rico Connectivity
• Website: Digital Planet
• Feed URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002w6r2/episodes/downloads.rss
• Duration: 00:42:40
• Published: 2017-11-21 22:00

AT&T is experimenting with a drone called a Flying COW (Cell on Wings) in Puerto Rico to help re-establish internet connectivity after the destruction by the recent hurricane. Other drones have also been widely used in the region to map the damage, and to direct aid. Click talks to Art Pregler, a specialist in drones at AT&T and also to Ellie Mackay who has experience of using drones after disasters. The Raspberry Pi was designed to re-introduce programming and electronic "tinkering" among young people in countries where technology is already largely present. Since 2011, a local team have set up three computer rooms in Togo. The third one, installed last summer, demonstrates how the Raspberry Pi, powered by Linux, is a perfect alternative to conventional computers. Click talks to Dominique Laloux whose goal is to raise the necessary funds to install one new room in one other Togolese school each year. Professor Philip Howard from the Oxford Internet Institute is about to give a key note address on the current state, future and implications of the Internet of Things (IoT). Ahead of the talk he joins Click to outline the pros and cons of the IoT. (Photo caption: An AT&T Cell on Wings © AT&T) Producer: Colin Grant