TechXplore - Episode Guide

Today, one of the best ways to understand any country is through its latest innovation. BBC tech reporter Paul Carter is on a mission: to explore destinations across the globe, hunting down their cutting-edge tech and the people who are creating it. Paul starts by exploring some of the latest technology in Japan, a country long renowned as a leader in the tech world. Starting in Tokyo he visits a cafe whose disabled workers, unable to leave their homes, serve customers remotely from hundreds of miles away using robots and telepresence. He also gets a workout in the city's first e-sports gym. The professional coaches say it takes a hundred hours to get to even a basic level but even in a short time they help Paul sharpen his skills. Paul discovers how tech is revolutionising Japan's world-famous food sector; he travels to the South coast to investigate the story behind a start-up aiming to make shrimp farming sustainable, before continuing westwards to rural Hyogo, to the home of the prized Kobe beef. On a famous Japanese cattle farm, Paul tries his hand at some of the age-old cattle-rearing techniques which go into the production of wagyu beef and then visits Osaka University, where scientists are trying to recreate lab-grown wagyu in petri dishes: Paul wonders whether lab-grown "tech" meat can really compete with the real thing?
Finally, Paul finishes his journey at Japan's most sacred mountain - Mount Fuji - where artificial intelligence is being used to help predict rockslides and protect visitors to this stunning volcanic landscape. Join Paul on his tech journey as he techXplores Japan.

TechXplore travels the world to see destinations through the prism of technology and to meet the people at the front line of innovation. This time, tech-loving traveller Paul Carter explores Japan to find out how the drive to become more sustainable is leading to some exciting world-leading developments there - from underwater drones servicing offshore wind farms to discarded sea pineapple shells being used to generate electricity. Also, Paul meets fashion influencer and J-Pop icon Manon, and faces up to his fear of spiders to discover how one startup is taking inspiration from nature to help fashion to become more sustainable in the future.

Tech reporter Paul Carter is in Morocco to see the exciting tech developments which are helping it make the most of its natural resources. On his trip, Paul visits the colossal Noor solar farm in Ouarzazate which is the largest concentrated solar power site in the world. Alongside solar panels, giant mirrors focus the sun on a central tower superheating it to store power.

Paul meets an expert on renewable power, Rim Berahab from the Policy Centre for the New South, who explains that while Morocco is not a huge carbon emitter, it is investing heavily in technologies like solar because it is likely to be one of the places most affected by climate change in the future.

Paul visits an olive farmer near Marrakech grappling with the issues of droughts caused by climate change, who is now working with a start-up that uses AI and satellite imagery so that his irrigation can be made more effective.

Finally, Paul visits the port in Tangier, Tangermed, which is the largest container port in Africa and discovers how they are trying to harness the power of nature to the benefit of the environment, with state-of-the-art wave generators installed as a pilot project all along the harbour wall. If successful, Paul hears how these may one day power the entire port.

In TechXplore, we visit a country to see it through the prism of technology and innovation. This time, tech-loving traveller Paul Carter is in Japan looking at how the drive to become more sustainable is leading to exciting developments in the country - from hydrogen powered cities and radical new concepts for solar power at sea to the next generation of robotic farms, designed to grow food hyper-efficiently.

Tech presenter and sports fan Paul Carter goes behind the scenes to see how technology is powering the Paris Olympics and Paralympics.

In the first episode of a three-part series, BBC tech journalist and huge Olympic fan Paul Carter goes behind the scenes to see how technology underpins so much of the Olympics and Paralympics - from the events themselves to the way 'digital twins' of most of the key venues have been created in the virtual world. These simulations allow organisers, broadcasters and athletes to see precisely how these arenas will operate before they are even built, reducing the number of site visits needed to Paris.

With access to major venues and top training facilities, TechXplore gets a sneak peek at the tools developed to streamline the Olympic and Paralympic experience for fans and athletes, including the private 5G networks installed to help capture the opening ceremony and sailing events.

With exclusive access to athletes in the build-up to the games, Paul also visits Norway and the training camp of reigning triathlon champion Kristian Blummenfelt to see how heat tracking sensors are helping him push his body to the limit. And we find out how US Olympic football captain Lindsey Horan is creating a digital twin of her own muscles - using MRI scans and AI to visualise the micro-differences in her body to allow a more purpose-built training regime.

Paul Carter continues his tech journey at the Paris Games, and this time he's exploring how the events in Paris are being experienced by the global audience.

Paul goes behind the scenes at the high-tech international broadcast centre and finds out how AI and the cloud are transforming the global broadcasting experience of the 2024 games. Paris will be the first Olympics where broadcasting over the cloud will overtake that using satellites as a key component in the broadcast infrastructure, with footage transferred via huge data centres to broadcasters around the world. This aims to make the Paris Games far more sustainable, as this new remote-working approach requires fewer production staff on location. Artificial intelligence is also being deployed to help broadcasters and fans to edit and select the best, most relevant footage and highlights for their needs and interests.

Paul visits the Olympic Timekeeping Laboratory in Switzerland to see how AI is being introduced into the judging of key Paris events. He joins an Olympian swimmer in the pool to test out the latest smart goggles, and he tests his skills at an AI talent scouting lab that is looking to find the Olympians of the future. And Paul joins a team looking at footage from the Paris games of 1924, which is now being digitally recoloured using AI to celebrate some Olympic glories from the past.