© Stiftung Jugend forscht

Small battery-powered drones are now available for little money. The disadvantage: the battery often doesn't last longer than a quarter of an hour. The prototype by Florian Pollakowsky (16) and Falko Staps (19), the winners of the prize for work in the field of technology, is different. Although their drone also has an electric drive, it is based on a glider model with a wingspan of five meters. This gives it the potential to glide extremely energy-efficiently and stay in the air for several hours. The glider drone is also equipped with a small on-board computer and various sensors that can be used to record weather data, for example.