Can you imagine a world without the kind of voice assistant technology provided by Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri on the iPhone or Cortana for Windows? Probably not, as we tend to take such technological leaps forward pretty much for granted. But behind the scenes there's a whole new world of machine-learning that drives their collective ability to seemingly answer any question put to them. It's not so much knowing the answer that's the technological miracle – because, well, the internet – but rather that these virtual assistants are able to understand the question in the first place. Machine-learning is, in the broadest possible terms, what you might expect in that computer algorithms can be trained to understand how to correctly respond to an input by way of a human telling it what that response should be.

While simply flying a drone is not a complicated process, operating them for surveying or disaster sites employ certain techniques that require training. In March, a drone pilot school in the city of Kai, Yamanashi Prefecture, operated by the Japan Aviation Academy, lowered the age eligible for entrance from 20 to 16. In addition to practical coaching, students at the school can learn about civil aviation and radio laws, as well as understanding sudden weather changes from the movement of clouds and wind direction. "The lessons are practical and I am learning a lot. I hope to use the skills for disaster prevention and helping people," said Tsurugi Hatano, a 16-year-old high school student in the city of Tsuru, Yamanashi.