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A remote-controlled drone designed to pluck a drowning person from water has been shown off in Dubai. It was one of the entries in a special competition - staged to highlight innovations which have the potential to change lives. It might look like something from out of space, but this Octa Copter 'SANAD' drone has a far more practical use. SANAD's inventor - Mansour Al Balooshi - hopes it could one day become a literal lifesaver. Sweeping across water, the drone is designed to aid rescue attempts. It drops a rubber ring and winches up a dummy, but does it impress the judges? SANAD is one of many drones that have been seen flying all over Dubai's Internet City, as part of a competition to showcase drone innovation. The event, "Drones for Good" challenges designers to show-off drone technology that can help society. Over the course of the two-day event finalists in the national and international categories - as well as a special judges award - show-off their designs to a panel of judges - and the watching crowd. More than 800 entries from 57 countries in all have been whittled down to the final few. The finalists in the national category - which includes the lifesaver drone - are pulling out all the stops, competing for a one million Dirham prize (272,245 US dollars). Innovation is key says Dr. Saeed Khalfan Al Dhahari, a judge at the competition. "The drone has to at first be able to function properly in real life not just theory and the judging committee needs to be able to see it that it works. "There also has to be some sort of innovation and not a just a drone that you can pick up from a shop and used it. No, there has to be some innovation in the idea. Also the use of the drone, the drone has to be able to solve a challenge that we face whether it be locally or even globally." Next-up on the podium - in the national category - is Wadi Drones, ready to wow the judges. They wanted to take a local problem and solve it by using drone technology. The group, made up of students at New York University in Abu Dhabi, went to Wadi Wurayah national park, in a northern area of the UAE, to help conservationists track wildlife patterns using technology - rather than having rangers trek around the 31-thousand acre (13-thousand hectare) park. "We were looking at what the UAE needed and then we found that through the Dubai Expo 2020 because we saw on that their national concerns that they wanted to show the world," explains Kai-erik Marechal Jenssen. "Conservationally they wanted to show off Wadi Wurayah and so we went to Wadi Wurayah. We met with the managements, we met with the rangers, we met with everyone involved, the researchers as well and they were actually the ones that gave us the idea for drones. They had this need, they didn't know how to fill it and we filled it for them." The idea impresses the judges - and scoops first prize in the national competition. The ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum presents them with the award. Their win is a chance take on the negative connotations sometimes associated with drones. "I really like the titling of this competition 'Drones for Good' because it takes the negative connotation of the word drone which even without the military context has bad connotations and it pairs it with good," says Jenssen. "And so it is already changing the perception just with that title and then through our activities here today and yesterday, we have further proved to the world that drones and unmanned aerial vehicles, as they are otherwise known, can be used for good." Wadi Drones hopes to be up and functioning in nine months - thanks to the prize. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/7a02aa30a9ef9d6b3a0b122d5921cc71 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork