Pi-powered Teddy Bear

Available for over a year

A teddy bear driven by a Raspberry Pi and flies to 39 km above an English village before returning to earth by parachute. Babbage the Bear carried cameras recording the leap, flew higher (just) than Felix Baumgartner’s famous leap last year, and was done and back home for around £300. Gareth meets mission designer, hobbyist Dave Akerman, at ground control. (Photo credit: Babbage the Bear © Dave Akerman) Facebook Alerts Researchers to Disease Outbreak Gareth also speaks to researcher Sarah Kemble who was able to rapidly track the passage of an outbreak of food-borne disease in a school in Minnesota thanks to the eagle-eyes of a parent, who spotted the pattern amongst the community whilst looking at Facebook. Bus Drivers Can Drive More Smoothly How bumpy is your bus ride? Some drivers are better than others, but they may not know. Simon Morton reports from New Zealand on a new way of monitoring - known as telematics – that is alerting bus drivers to the smoothness of their driving.