Young Prathap Has Built Over 600 Drones From E-Waste, Saved Lives And Won Medals For India
Also referred to as the ¡®Drone Scientist¡¯ he has developed a total of 600 drones all by himself. Moreover, he has also completed six cool projects including Telegraphy in Border Security, Drones for traffic management, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAVs for rescue operations as well as auto-piloted drones.
India has no shortage of innovation. From 22-year-olds who are shooting satellites as small as shoeboxes in space to entrepreneurs helping IT people in the country get world-class knowledge with good-paying jobs, we've got 'em all.
And today, we came across another genius called Prathap NM from Mandya, Karnataka, who makes drones using e-waste to help people in need.
Reuters/Instagram: @droneprathap
Getting introduced to drones
He started tinkering with drones when he was 14 years old, and by the age of 16, he built his first drone from scratch that could fly and capture images -- all by himself. Prathap¡¯s a BSc grad from JSS College of Arts and Commerce in Mysore.
Building 600 drones from scratch
Also referred to as the ¡®Drone Scientist¡¯ he has developed a total of 600 drones all by himself. Moreover, he has also completed six cool projects including Telegraphy in Border Security, Drones for traffic management, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAVs for rescue operations as well as auto-piloted drones. He has also worked on cryptography in drone networking to save them from getting hacked and taken out of control.
When Karnataka was suffering from massive floods, Prathap NM¡¯s drones helped in disaster management by providing medicine and food to people in need.
Utilising e-waste
One thing he focusses on while making the drones is minimising the generation of e-waste on the planet. He tries to utilise components from broken drones -- motors, capacitors and other electronics -- looking for parts that can be salvaged and reused. This way he not only keeps the costs to a minimum but also helps in saving the planet.
Instagram: @droneprathap
Accolades and awards
Prathap has been invited to over 87 countries to show his creations to the world. He has been awarded the Albert Einstein Innovation Gold Medal International Drone Expo 2018 held in Hanover in Germany.
He was also awarded gold and silver medal and $10,000 in the International Robotics Exhibition held in Tokyo in 2017. He has also been asked to give lectures at IIT Bombay, and IISc to talk about the application of drone tech in a time-sensitive scenario.
He is currently working on a project with India¡¯s DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) for drone application in critical national projects.
