Young Indian Uses E-Waste To Build Over 600 Drones

India is full of inspiration and innovation. From 22-year-olds shooting small satellites into space to entrepreneurs that provide IT people with good-paying jobs and world-class knowledge.

This story is about another genius from Karnataka called Prathap NM. He has built over 600 drones using e-waste to save people’s lives.

When Prathap was only a 14-year-old boy, he got his experience with drones. His first drone was built when he was 16 years old. The drone could take flights and capture images. Prathap is a BSc grad at Mysore JSS College of Arts and Commerce.

He is known by another name, the “Drone Scientist”. The number of drones that he has developed has reached 600. He has also taken part in six cool projects which include Drones for traffic management, Telegraphy in Border Security, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for rescue operations, etc. He has also put his efforts in drone networking’s cryptography to prevent them from being hacked.

When massive floods attack Karnataka, the drones of Prathap helped with disaster management by offering people who were in need food and medicine.

When he makes drones, Prathap focuses on minimizing e-waste generation. He tries to reuse components that he collected from broken drones like capacitors, motors, and other electronics. By doing this, he not only lowers the cost but also saving the planet.

Prathap has received invitations to take his creations to 87 countries around the world. He was a receiver of the Albert Einstein Innovation Gold Medal at the 2018 International Drone Expo in Hanover, Germany.

At the Tokyo International Robotics Exhibition in 2017, he also received the gold and silver medal as well as $10,000 in cash. He has also been invited to give lectures at IISc and IIT-Bombay to talk about how unmanned aerial technology could be applied.

At the moment, he is working with India’s DRDO on a project to use drones in critical national projects.