this is bbc news, the headlines... one of prince william's godmothers has resigned from the royal household and apologised after she repeatedly asked a domestic—abuse campaigner where she really came from. ngozi fulani — who's black — says her conversation with lady susan hussey during a buckingham place reception left her feeling violated. tax returns available to a congressional committee. the move follows a supreme court ruling last week that cleared the way for the democratic—led panel to access his returns. mr trump has argued that move is politically motivated. a landslide on a motorway in southern brazil has killed at least two people and left dozens missing. rescue workers in parana state

said the bad weather and remote location were complicating the search effort. authorities say cars and trucks were hit by a torrent of mud. now on bbc news, click. oh, that's so cool. you're not wrong. this week — the robots are taking over. are they going to do experiments on us? no, but we are going to see what man can learn from machine. some of them are chasing tails they don't have. some are beating us at football. good skills! other games are available, including this one created for people with autism. catch it!

star! and lj provides some expert commentary on a new fairground ride. lj screams. welcome to the national robotarium. i believe you came to see some robots. we. ..got. . . robots. now, this is our kind of place. just opened at heriot—watt university in edinburgh, the national robotarium is a research centre for scientists to take the latest robotics and explore the best ways they can be used in industry as well as all walks of life. one of the aims of the national robotarium is to try and work out what work works for humans and what work doesn't work for humans, and therefore the robots should do that work instead. that's what they're trying to work out.

what? well, if you didn't understand what that was about, maybe the robots could explain it better. what sort of research goes on here? research about human—robot interaction, artificial- intelligence, and trustworthy autonomous systems. - are they going to do weird experiments on us? no. this is a kind of place - where they work with industry to explore robotics in society and in the workplace. - great. i love field trips. i feel excited. lara: well, don't we all? spencer: one of the superstars of the robot world in general is spot, boston dynamics�* flagship, all—terrain dog—o—pod. out of the box, spot comes with lots of simple—sounding but really actually very complicated ability. that's my favourite. that's the bit i love, the side to side! it can walk, balance... and it has lots of built—in safety features. and then it's up to researchers like rahul to try and customise it for new applications.

we are looking at using this in construction sectors, especially getting them to walk around in confined spaces like in the nuclear decommission sites. one thing that we are doing right now is adding some custom sensors like 3d laser scanners, generating 3d map of construction site. what he's doing right now is using the manipulator arm to semi—autonomously pick up a bottle. rahul has programmed in the idea of the bottle, the image of the bottle, and then spot is going and picking it up on its own. and it's done a good job. good boy! boston dynamics may have created the best known quadruped robot in the world, but it's certainly not the only one. no, we've seen many on our travels, and james clayton has been to boston, to mit, where he's been meeting not a big dog, but a big cat.

here at click, we've been following this guy around for a few years now, the incredibly animal—like mini cheetah. the robot that can go over different types of terrain. you can even kick it and it'll stay upright — in theory. it's amazing. ooh! yeah! well, that was slightly awkward, but i am assured it being a robot, it doesn't feel pain. moving on... i've been told, though, that the mini cheetah has gotten cleverer. the boffins here call it the learn—by—experience model, machine learning that allows the cheetah to negotiate objects through trial and error. and i'm told it's learnt how to play football. now i'm no ronaldo, but i thought i'd put it through its paces. but first, a piece to camera. ok, we're going to play some football. oh, i can't do any skills. 0h.

this might take a long time. let's play some football! whistle blows. james laughs. i thought he was running after us! with that out of the way, it was time to test it out. oh, good skills! its close ball control was pretty good, though sometimes it seemed to be concentrating so hard on the football it forgot how to actually walk. and trying to tackle it was pretty hard, too. they laugh. it's quite scary! the researchers also decided to take it to places it had never been before to see how it would do. 0k... oh, can it do this? i'm not actually sure, but we can give it a try. let's see if i can do it. oh, wow. 0h! kind of! oh, look at it right itself!

wow. yeah. so the thing is, it can't it can't actually see the stairs. this is a blind controller, so it doesn't know that the stair is coming. it has to be totally reactive. so it hasn't learned how to do this. it's just reacting to falling basically down the stairs. yeah. i took a little bit of risk. it is really impressive. but what are the real world applications for this? daniela rus is the director of csail. the robot can carry things for us and can traverse dangerous territory and present us with information that that is really too difficult for us to reach ourselves. the robot could also carry things for us as we walk up a mountain path. within a home, we have a lot of wheel—based robots, but those robots are not going to go up the stairs. but the mini cheetah will. so, if you want your robot to deliver cookies before bedtime, and that robot has to go from the kitchen to the bedroom up the stairs, then you really want

the cheetah. with the world cup in full swing, both the cheetah and i show you how hard it is to actually play football well. it's still learning and getting better, unlike me. but training to do this shows its versatility. perhaps they could even be robot pets of the future. that was james. back at the robotarium, we've moved on to a very different sort of robot. this may be the size of a five—year—old child, but it's being used to analyse the interaction between brain and body in parkinson's patients. and in the future, it may even be able to predict disease progression. it's very early days at the moment and really only a proof of concept that meaningful data for parkinson's and other neurological conditions can be transferred from research into this form to be learnt from.

there are cameras in the eyes and also the body is covered with tactile sensors, which means if you touch it on the legs, the chest, the arms or even the fingertips, it can feel you. parkinson's is one of several degenerative diseases which new technology and techniques may be able too slow the onset of. nick kwek has been to meet someone who is determined that his condition won't take everything from him. jim maxwell is one of around 5,000 people in the uk living with motor neurone disease, a terminal illness. putting shoes on is impossible for me. lifting trousers up�*s impossible for me to do. the illness is starting to take a good hold of me now. known as mnd or als, the condition gradually takes away movement from people and for almost everyone with it, their voice, too. to actually... ..live in a world where you can't speak and be heard.... ..it sounds...

to me, it sounds alien and frightening at the same time. thanks to some new tech, jim's going to record his voice from home so it can be digitally reproduced if he loses it. it's really important that i do bank this voice and... so that i can still be seen, still be me. i will always be me is an interactive storybook by intel and dell. created in partnership with rolls—royce, the mnd association and edinburgh—based start—up speakunique, it conveys the effects of mnd written in the first person. do you think that's ok? some of them are ok. it takes around an hour to read — a fraction of the time it would traditionally to record in a professional voiceover booth, and all the recordings from the book are sent here for processing. man's voice: personalised speakunique voice. - all of our voices are built on what we call a bass voice, which incorporates hundreds and hundreds of hours of people all of our voices are built on what we call a base voice,

which incorporates hundreds and hundreds of hours of people speaking, which means that when we come to recording an individual, we've got all those examples already in our system. and so with the short amount of recording that the individual can do through the book, we can then sort of adapt our base voice to sound like that one individual. as well as replicating, the company says it's able to restore voices back to healthy—sounding speech. the first three are really fast, but they might be ok if they were slowed down. our system understands what, say, a normal articulation pattern would be. so if someone comes to record and they've noticed that their articulation is slurred or they have effort in their speech, we can disregard anything that might be part of their disease and retain just what's them. but does it actually sound like the person? only one way to find out. putting on warm... probably have some questions about all this... "this is based on the recording of my voice. it means that i can continue to communicate in my own voice." mm. when you talk to me and i want to listen to your... for someone who's been diagnosed with this, every minute counts and that process is extremely meaningless, except for

the fact that eventually it generates a voice. so essentially it's a way to get people to speak to their loved ones in ways that can get them to adjust to what's going to happen and what's coming. dad's always been the life and soul of a party. - if you walk into places, he's normally the first i person you hear. yeah, he's the laugh you hear, the voice you hear. yeah. to even still have that, even if it's not coming from him, erm...| think will be great. how important is it to be able to hear your dad's voice once he's gone? sometimes he says stuff, you know, i hear it- and i'm like, "oh, please don't forget that." - you know, if i didn't manage to capture it, like... - yeah. i think my daughters might be a bit sick of hearing me, but i think it's essential for me. voice might start to change... aland deep learningl is improving at a rate that none of us can - actually even comprehend.

to me, itjust says- that the fidelity of these systems will start to sound much, much more - like people, right? without having to have that huge cost of capturing - data just for the sake - of generating voice banking. and i will always love you. that's it. what did you think about that, jim? yeah. some of the phrases and words... it hits a raw nerve. it talks about where i'll need help from my girls, whether...to get dressed, when obviously when they were babies, that was myjob. yeah, it's quite strong. of course, creating a voice bank isjust one part of the puzzle. putting it to use is another thing altogether. when i'm actually dead and gone, they can still go into that app and still listen to my voice. so i might be gone, but i'll still be there for them.

time for a look at this week's tech news. first up, india may follow the eu in making all new mobile devices share a standard usb—c charger. according to the secretary of consumer affairs, india's government has reached a broad consensus on the idea. collapsed cryptocurrency exchange ftx owes its 50 largest creditors almost $3.1 billion, according to a court filing. ftx was the second—largest crypto exchange in the world before it filed for bankruptcy in the us last week. people lost their life savings, unfortunately. i wasn't in ftx, i hadn't invested in ftx, i was a part of the voyager downfall, lost a lot of money there. after months of speculation, sony has announced a launch date for its next—generation

virtual—reality headset. the playstation vr2 will cost $550 when it launches worldwide on the 22nd of february next year. and finally, is this the future of vending machines? sandwich chain subway has begun selling products in smart fridges that it says can listen to you and answer your questions. the first fridge is now up and running at the university of california in san diego. amusement parks — big and small, i'm trying to visit them all. making rides fun, exciting and above all safe uses frankly astonishing levels of tech. and new high—tech rides start with a plan, in this case at ride manufacturer kmg's factory in the netherlands. they're building aerospace, soon to be the tallest upside down thrill ride in the uk. atjust over 65 metres, the ride packs into four trucks

to drive to its new home 500 miles away in wales. the e3 millionjewel in barry island pleasure park's crown towers above the village. pretty certain many of you are saying, yes, please at this point. the rain is not going to stop me trying that. the crew, on the other hand, would rather stay on the ground. so it's off to the pay box to meet harry, who's opened the ride especially for us. it does seem like it's just a few buttons, but in the grand scheme of things, it's very complicated. you've got to know what you're doing with it. that computer's so clever. it will tell how fast it's going, where it's going, it will tell you how fast it's going, where it's going, how long it's been going for, how much weight's on there. the wind speed. yes, that computer's essentialfor a ride of this scale to be safe. when the weather's colder, the oil inside the hydraulics thickens, requiring regular climbs to the middle platform to adjust the pressure. on a miserable day, i wouldn't like to. l it was ok when i left the -

house, i'm actually in shorts. he chronicled the whole build. there's the middle part with a giant clutch inside like a car. while running, the clutch engages the arm to the motors to drive it round. and look at that lovely time lapse of those eight main hydraulic rams unfolding. of course, he's come today to show his support. this is the crew. the lady in the pink is the one that's going to be riding it. . rather them than me. because it was bad . enough riding it when the weather was nice. 75mph, 74mph, i think it is. er, in the rain. you're going to get wet. get off that, you'll be wetter than on the log flume. - thanks, steve! all right, let's try it out! why are you all smiling? safety sensors are everywhere, confirming the restraints are locked, the gates closed and the floor drops correctly. machinery whines. it's intentionally loud, by the way, to add to the occasion. oh, my goodness! oh, no! the whole system is monitored remotely from the netherlands. lj screams.

it's so high up. it's amazing. i can't believe... ..i'm going to have to go... ..back down again. lj screams. that was like doing aerobatics in an aeroplane. i mean, without the aeroplane. that was...a phenomenal experience. there's just time for a quick chat in this marvellous vintage, 30—year—old waltzer, a much—loved fairground favourite. there's no technology in this ride, but you won't find a better one than this. and it's still entertaining people. but some things like the aerospace, when i finally went on it and i started

going round, yeah, it's amazing. i think that's where technology has made these rides possible. perhaps one day there'll be a bigger version, but barry island's tallest attraction will be staying near the top of my rides list for quite some time. wow! that was lj! now the national robotarium is full of talking heads, although this looks more like that kraftwerk album that you never bought. we research and study the way human, robots, interact with each other. for example, what are the best things robots should say and how to say it. essentially, researchers are monitoring how comfortable we as humans are with robots. yeah, that includes how close we want to get to them, what we say, and even our facial expressions. we are trying to make this interaction really natural and very much human—like. but we still find out that humans still perceive robots as robots and not yet as another human or another agent. the first thing you need to see is this. grah! the face is projected onto this translucent mask

from the back of the head. wow. and the second thing you need to know is the company has called furhat robotics. why? because it has no hair. so, it needs a hat — just like that. of course, we all react in our own unique ways to different things, and people on the autistic spectrum can find some situations and indeed many mainstream video games overwhelming. but one start—up based over in glasgow has designed a vr game specifically for autistic people. and paul carterjoined some play testers to give it a go. thomas is autistic and he loves gaming. that's so cool. his mum sarah is autistic, too. and there are some aspects of gaming that don't make sense to her. the hardest bit for me is if something isn't obvious or it's sort of a little bit more challenging, it gets really frustrating. experts say many autistic people often encounter these kinds of difficulties

in gaming. both education systems and entertainment devices are created by neurotypical people... ..for neurotypical people. and what that means is it doesn't necessarily reflect on the differences and the ways that people first of all process information, but also the things that might be overwhelming from either a sensory perspective orfrom a cognitive processing perspective. ooh, this is going to be fun. today, thomas and sarah are trying a new game. blinnk and the vacuum of space has been developed by changingday, a start—up based in glasgow. it's one of very few companies making games designed specifically for autistic people. i have a 26—year—old daughter who's autistic and we have spent many years trying to find the things that will help her in her everyday life. when i tried a vr headset on for the first time about six years ago, i thought, i wonder if autistic people could benefit from vr? the main object of the game

is to make the world's greatest sandwich. as you do! but after the sandwich—creating experiment goes wrong, you have to spend the game chasing around after these little guys. so, what kind of things do you have to bear in mind when you're designing something like this? so, if there was a particular mechanic that we thought might be problematic, might be a barrier to play for some autistic people or in general, we just wouldn't include it, avoiding stressful game mechanics. so things like time limits arejust not in the game, but also allowing kind of really in—depth customisation. if there's a particular sound in the game which someone finds quite triggering, they can just go in and turn that sound off. so i'm able to give it a go? yeah, absolutely. i wasn't really sure what to expect, but it does a greatjob of leaning into what vr is all about and putting you into a totally different environment. oh, cool! this is one of the kind of design features in our game from an accessibility perspective. 0k. it gets a board up and it's telling you, we're going undercover and here's the kind

of characters we're going to meet and so on, to give the player an expectation of where they're going and hopefully reduce some of the anxiety they might have. northopolis spaceport... one of changingday�*s hopes is that the game could help better prepare autistic people for real—life situations. we have an area in the space station, like an airport, basically, kind of setting which some autistic people might find quite challenging in real life. large crowds and all the noise around you. looking there, we can present that within a game context in a way which is more fun. my experiences of this are obviously going to be very different than that of an autistic person. but my initial reactions are that it's undeniably fun and it's really clear to see the potential benefits that something like this could have. oh, yes, i threw it and it worked! - but how is it even possible to create a game for every autistic person? really, we're looking at targeting in the middle of the autistic spectrum. people at the very high end will be gamers themselves, perhaps already anyway, and maybe won't benefit from some of the things that are included in our game.

whether it's possible to create one game that fits all autistic people, of course, that isn't... that isn't possible. at best what we could hope to do is to create something that is as broadly inclusive as possible. there is an opportunity to be able to reach people who may not otherwise be interacting with the same kinds of games. that was amazing. i liked the manoeuvrability. like, how your guy will do i what you would usually do. cross the street. changingday isn't the only start—up innovating in this area. us—based company florio makes therapeutic and educational vr experiences that aim to help autistic children cope better in the real world. but they aren't games. autistic people don't need to be changed. what they do need is a game that's designed specifically for them to help them get from start to finish, because sometimes in gameplay there are situations that they don't react well to or don't understand, and we're trying to clear those

barriers for them. blinnk and the vacuum of space will be released injanuary. yay! that was paul and that is it from us here at the national robotarium in edinburgh. and it's notjust our time that's running out. goodbye! five, four... are they really- allowed to do that? ..three, two, one... wait, are you...? hello again. wednesday brought us some big weather contrasts once again. now, we had some fog that lingered all day around the scottish borders, and where that happened, temperatures in places actually

stayed below freezing all day, whereas across the south west of england we had some pleasant sunshine, it was quite mild — 12 degrees in cornwall, 13 in the isles of scilly. right now, fog is becoming our next concern. we've got quite dense patches of fog across southern areas of england with the risk of some fog developing across wales, the midlands, east anglia — and for a time, as well, northeast england, so it might be worth allowing a little bit of extra time for your commute to work during the first part of thursday, because i think some of that fog is going to be quite dense with visibility down to 100 metres or so. and some of the fog willjust lift into low cloud and mist and could loiter all day in one or two spots. otherwise, a lot of dry weather across england and wales with some sunny spells developing. some damp weather to start the day across eastern scotland, but the rain then tends to move into northern scotland later in the day. and for northern ireland it brightens up. notice again, the mildest weather will be across the north—west of the country — 12 degrees in stornoway — whereas across england,

wales typically temperatures around about seven to nine degrees. we've got a similar mix of weather around on friday — again with some mist and fog patches to start the day — and then again it's a day where we'll see quite a bit of cloud, but some sunny spells developing here and there. our temperatures not really changing too much across england and wales — again, about seven to nine — still mild for northern ireland and western scotland. now, taking a check on the weather picture into this weekend, easterly winds are going to start to strengthen and what that will do is bring us some thicker areas of cloud and we'll see some patches of mostly light rain moving in, so you could see some damp weather just about anywhere, but it's the winds that you'll notice and it will start to feel a little bit colder as well. however, into next week, that's when we're expecting the weather to turn much colder still. you see, an area of high pressure is going to develop in greenland and what that's going to do is it's going to shove these northerly winds southwards, with polar air moving its way across the uk, really dumping the temperatures. and for some — particularly over the hills — you may well

be looking at the first sign of winter. yes, there is the potential for some winter snowfall into next week. still some way off — we'll be firming upon the details over the next few days.

this is bbc news. our top stories... buckingham palace issues a formal apology after a senior member of the royal household is accused of making racist remarks to a black, british reception guest. donald trump's tax returns are handed to a democratic—led, congressional committee following last week's supreme court ruling. south africa president president cyril ramaphosa is facing the threat after a report finds he may have breached anti—corruption laws. democrat, hakeem jeffries is elected to succeed nancy pelosi — becoming the first black american to lead a major party

in the us congress. at least two people have been killed and dozens are missing