A drone that detects and repairs leaks in pipelines and a multi-purpose drone that can submerge itself in water have soared (and dived) to victory in the second edition of the UAE Drones For Good Awards.

An AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Robotics Award for Good held concurrently was won by the Al Murshid Al Thaki (Arabic for 'Smart Guidance System for the Blind') robotand by the UC Berkley Suit-X an exoskeleton system designed to improve the physiological gait development of children.

Three drones each competed in the national and international finals of the drones competition alongside three entries each for the national and international portions of the AI and robotics competition. Winning national entries will be awardedDh1 million each while international winners will receive $1 million.

The team with the winning national drone - called the 'BuilDrone" - was led by Talib Muhammad Alhinai an Emirati PhD candidate at Imperial College London and supervised by faculty advisor Dr Mirko Kovac.

"Usually leaks are repaired manually. Humans will go there the facility needs to be shut down and it takes time. It can be very dangerous for humans and very costly. It's labor intense and complex" Kovac told Khaleej Times. "What we offer is a solution. A drone can go to the site inspect where the leak is inspect the damage and then repair it on-site without any human intervention."

Kovac noted that the Dh1 million will allow the team to expand on their idea.

"We will take the next step of integrating a user-friendly interface that workers can operate safely and effectively" he said. "We'll also expand it to an industrial case study and analyze the costs in detail and demonstrate it can save lives and protect resources."

Osamah Rawashdeh the project leader of the Loon Copter team from Oakland University in the U.S. explained that the versatile drone can be used for a variety of purposes.

Congratulations team LOON-COPTER on winning the grand 1 Million dollars prize in the Drones International awards. pic.twitter.com/JaEikefmac

- UAE Drones for Good (uaeD4G) February 6 2016 "It's a unique vehicle. It's 3 in 1 basically. It can fly or operate on the surface of the water and then can dive underwater like a remote control submarine" he said. "It's a platform. Some of the applications that people have approached us with are monitoring of oil spills for search and rescue inspection of bridges or to see whales or sharks approaching and carry shark deterrents. People are still coming up with ideas. It's an enabling technology."

In total the international drone competition drew a total of 1017 submissions from 165 countries while the robotics competition drew 664 submissions from 121 countries.

Among those on hand to witness the finals of the competition was His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

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Participants were unanimous in praising the competition as a way to encourage innovation and motivate people to find new ways of using unmanned technology for the benefit of mankind.

"There's a lot of negative publicity lately with drones. There are privacy issues people flying around airports and of course their military uses" Osamah Rawashdeh noted. "We appreciate somebody highlighting the positive uses of drones and pushing people to research and investigate positive applications."

Ibrahim Elbawadi of the FlyLab drone - which is designed to be used in classrooms - said that the competition and the UAE's efforts to encourage such technology can serve as an example for the rest of the world.

"This award now reminds us that drones like any other technology can be good for humans. They can make healthcare better education more effective and make people's lives happier. This all connects with the vision of the UAE."

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Bernd Debusmann Jr. Originally from Mexico City I've been in Dubai since January 2015. Before arriving in in the UAE I worked as a general news reporter in TV and print in Mexico City NYC and Washington DC. I'm interested in defence issues politics technology aviation and history. In my spare time i enjoy traveling and football - I'm a keen fan of Chelsea FC. I developed an interest in the Middle East traveling through Jordan and the West Bank. I have a BA in Political Science from Dickinson College in the USA and an MA in International Journalism from City University London.