sportsday is coming up, but now on bbc news, it's time for click. no, this isn't some kind of sea monster, but an autonomous machine which aims, perhaps, to make working at sea that little bit safer. with an ever—growing demand for renewable and sustainable energy sources, the infrastructure that provides that energy is becoming increasingly critical. now, at present, those facilities are often maintained by human divers

working in challenging and hazardous conditions. but here at heriot—watt university, they're developing underwater robotic solutions to help take the strain. and they've come up with this — the orca autonomous drone. we've got our scanning sonar, a mechanical scanning sonar. that can see all of these structures and items around the vehicle at quite a long distance. we've got an acoustic modem. this means that when we don't use the tether, we can communicate with the robot using sounds underwater. and how does it move around in the water, is it with these propellers that i can see here on either side? there are eight thrusters that are used and it can move it in all six directions. you've got forward, backwards, left, right, up, down, then you've got roll, pitch, and turn. oh, wow, so it's pretty manoeuvrable then? yes. all this technology allows the device to work autonomously,

planning its own route to fully scan a structure with little human intervention. so, the system that we have will continuously explore the unknown areas to see what what comes next on the structure, but we can also suggest positions to it. it takes the images from both cameras, the stereo camera, much like how we perceive depth, and it can use this data to create a sd model of the structure under the water. these can be viewed by the engineers and the surveyors to detect problems early when they are able to be fixed easily and cost effectively. early when they're able to be fixed easily and cost—effectively. currently, 80% of the cost of offshore wind is spent on maintenance through manned ships and technicians to do inspection and repair, so it's easy to see how this robot could cut costs. but robots may also solve a practical issue as wind power expands.

so, in the future, we are going to have not hundreds, but tens of thousands of wind farms. if you've got 10,000 wind turbines to inspect and if you have one person, one vehicle, you need 10,000 pilots, and you don't have them, they don't exist. we're going to need to replace or change the way we do things so that we can have several pilots monitoring tens or hundreds of those vehicles, so we need small—scale robotics fleets that are able to navigate these large farms and inspect and repair them remotely from shore. what's really fascinating is how autonomous robots like this could allow for further innovation, solving problems like the expansion of wind farms held back by the sheer practicalities of people. it's easy to imagine how undersea cables, renewable structures, and even boats could be maintained remotely.

so, the technology seems to be there, it's now over to the businesses to make sure it's viable. it's notjust under the water where there's innovation, where there's innovation. this is a boat with no people on it. also known as an uncrewed surface vessel, which can take to the seas to inspect projects in far—flung locations which are difficult to get to. autonomously operated vehicles like this are really important for the environment because they reduce fuel consumption and they also mean less people need to go offshore to do the on—site inspection. this is the erov. it's the electrical, remotely operated vehicle. what it's doing is it's launching into the water,

it's filled with sensors and cameras and it will look at high definition images, feed all that stuff back via satellite to the guys in aberdeen. by deploying these kinds of vehicles there's a potential to reduce fuel by deploying these kinds of vehicles, there's a potential to reduce fuel consumption as much as 95% in comparison with conventional ones. autonomous vehicles are marine robots, really. so, all of our lives are going towards digital and remote autonomous, so this is nothing different, this isjust the transformation of the offshore marine industry into a fleet of robotic vessels that can collect some really cool, significant data that we need. the firm collects and analyses geological data at land and at sea. we're also looking to expand our fleet. this is obviously the fugro 0rca, which is the first of a fleet of three or four that we expect to have by the end of this year,

then we're looking to expand the fleet with larger vessels that are capable of conducting operations in the even more hazardous environment with greater weather endurance limits, and also the capacity to be at sea for that much longer. all clear to move off? all good to move off. here in aberdeen, where the control centre is, the team on dry land connect with the technology which is out at sea. the visual data from the cameras. so, if we were on a wind farm, as you can see, the wind farm coming up from the sea is actually a big structure underneath and it goes to the seabed and attaches there. we will be looking at fixings to the seabed, the metal structure itself. they're all connected with power cables, so we'll also inspect power cables, making sure they're not damaged by fishermen. the rov also has sensors to make 3d

models of the seabed, so we can also check around the base of the structures and the pipelines as well. remote and autonomous technologies will play a vital role in the future of the maritime sector. this company hope to expand their fleets in the coming years to play a part in a safer and more sustainable future for essential work that needs to take place out at sea. that was poor shiona all at sea. now, with more and more tech being used above and below the water, have you ever wondered how it affect the creatures that live in it? well, harriet bradshaw has been to see some technology that is trying to find out if new tidal turbines are harming sea life in their homes. the challenge ahead... it's absolutely terrifying, yeah, because this thing is going to go down and it's going to get plugged in, and it's going to work or it's not going to work. this is about balancing technology with nature. this particular area, we have lost about 85%.

so, how do we protect them while quenching our thirst for clean energy? tidal has a role, the wind doesn't always blow, the tidal always keeps going. perhaps this monitor is the answer. we're at nigg in the north—east of scotland. it's about the length of a bus. crikey. and the blades go around... all underwater as well. all underwater. so, vessels pass over the top, we're eight metres underwater, the tip of the blade. this tidal turbine is being prepared to go in waters with some of the strongest currents in the world. and underwater, that power will push these blades around to make renewable energy, but tidal power isn't yet as developed. this has been in the water for about two years. this turbine does get barnacle growth on it and that does become food for fish. during slack tide there are fish around these turbines. which would attract these mammals. which would attract predators.

and the question is then, as the flow increases and the turbine goes into production and the blades spin faster, do the fish remain, do the predators come back, do we have an impact on those predators, and is it a detrimental impact? and it's crucial to develop these kinds of turbines in a way that doesn't harm these creatures, which are already under threat from other factors. we are certainly seeing that these areas seem to be important for harbour seals around this area and, indeed, we do see animals coming relatively close to the turbines, but it's really that fine scale behaviour that we're interested in. what do animals do when they really come close to the turbines? to answer this unknown, sinking a monitor next to a turbine might be key. so, douglas, this is going to be submerged underwater? can you take us through the technology here? that's right. of course, yeah. so, the two main sensor technologies we've got are the active sonars we're using for tracking seals, primarily, so they don't make much noise underwater, so these send out a very, very high frequency ping which is too loud for the animals to hear and be disturbed by,

and they listen for the echo, and they can build up an image of exactly where the animals are around the turbine. and the other sensor that we've got is underneath this protective housing here, which is passive hydrophones, which are listening to the sounds the animals make and we use those to pick up the sounds of porpoises and dolphins. john 0'groats — it's here that the monitor will be sunk underwater and installed on the seabed next to the turbine. it's sam, the ship is out at sea, we're here on land waiting for the signal, and that's because there is only a certain number of opportunities for the equipment to be submerged underwater and onto the seabed because of tidal conditions. but there's a delay. the turbine must be installed first, but a problem is holding things up. they haven't deployed our equipment yet. it will happen today for sure. but as anyone else worked at sea knows, nothing ever goes

but the moment finally arrives. remember that umbilical cord? the power cable that also sends data ashore, well, what we're watching here is it being plugged into a subsea hub. this will give the sea mammal monitor power, and this is a crucial moment. is it going to connect? is it going to switch on? and after years in the making, it's not good news. everything went together, but nothing came to life. but they've not given up. months later, they sort out the power supply and bingo. five, six hard years of work, it's underwater, it's working. i could not be happier! that was harriet bradshaw and that is it for the shortcut of click for this week. the full—length version is waiting for you on iplayer as usual. and we will be back on dry land next week. yeah, thanks for watching. bye— bye.

hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm gavin ramjaun. glory at the etihad — manchester city are premier league champions after a dramatic final day of drama. delight for leeds united. they beat brentford to stay up as burnley are relegated, following defeat to newcastle. and back on top — max verstappen recovers to take the f1 championship lead with victory in spain.

hello and welcome along to sportsday on an incredible final day of drama in the premier league. manchester city are champions again after coming from two goals down, late on to beat aston villa at the etihad. there were wild scenes at the end, as they looked out of it with about 15 minutes to go. ben croucher reports. as the sun sets, the blue moon rises. manchester city kings of england once again, a data ended in tears of the happy kinds of least —— a data ended in tears. if you want tension, the final day was always going to deliver it. it wasn't pretty, but for a time, it was enough. well below par, city were there for the taking. villa cashed in.

tension turned up. it didn't help the blood pressure of the 50 or so thousand in east manchester, but what happened next made hearts sink. former liverpool winger there, an etihad stadium final day, so you know what happens next. two minutes later, threading a new stitch in the tapestry, now for the finishing touch. cheering. comeback complete. i'm coming back like that. it was an incredible achievement. it's visible and it's relief.— and it's relief. when you're a kid, ou and it's relief. when you're a kid, you dream _ and it's relief. when you're a kid, you dream of— and it's relief. when you're a kid, you dream of playing _ and it's relief. when you're a kid, you dream of playing a _ and it's relief. when you're a kid, you dream of playing a premier. you dream of playing a premier league — you dream of playing a premier league. once you do, the next dream is to win _ league. once you do, the next dream is to win to _ league. once you do, the next dream is to win. to do that today...

in this most hard—fought of races, pushed to the very limit, the very brink, city did it the hard way, but they did it. ben croucher, bbc news. what a win for them. well, there was on sour note after city's win today. aston villa goalkeeper robin olsen was assaulted by a manchester city fan after the final whistle. city have a released a statemnt saying that they sincerely city have a released a statement saying that they sincerely apologise to olsen. the club has launched an immediate investiagtion and have said that once identified, the individual responsible will be issued with an indefinite stadium ban. well, what a season it's been for liverpool. in the premier league run, in they pushed city all the way, and despite beating wolves, they leave empty handed meaning hopes for that famous quadruple are over. patrick gearey was at anfield for us, and told me how the team will respond, given they have the champions league final in a few days' time. i think it will be depleting —— deflating for some extent.