Indian scientist and entrepreneur Drone Prathap is recognized for building more than 600 drones from electronic waste. He uses these drones for social purposes such as delivering food and relief supplies to flood-affected areas. He is the founder and CEO of Dronark Aerospace.
Wiki/Biography
Prathap NM was born on Monday, 15 June 1998 (age 25 years; as of 2023) in Netkal village, Malavalli taluka, Mandya district, Karnataka state. His zodiac sign is Gemini. He pursued his Bachelor of Science degree from JSS College of Arts and Commerce, Mysuru. Due to poor family conditions, he was unable to study engineering, which he had longed to study since childhood.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′8″
Hair color: black
Eye color: black
family
Parents and siblings
His father’s name was Marimaddaiah and he was a farmer. His mother’s name is Savita and she is a housewife.
religion
He believes in Hinduism.
Pratap drone conducts puja
Race
Pratap is a Kannadiga.
drone scientist
Early struggles
He was born into a family that made a living by farming. Due to financial constraints, his father wanted him to work on their farm. Therefore, he started working on the farm from an early age to fulfill his father’s wish. He mentioned in an interview that he had felt exhausted while working there before, but seeing the eagles in the sky made him calm and relaxed. In 10th grade, he saw a drone on TV, which piqued his interest because it reminded him of an eagle. Eager to learn about drones but lacking a smartphone or internet access, he found a job as a janitor at an internet cafe. In return, the owner allowed him to use the Internet for 45 minutes. Once he had the knowledge to build a drone, he faced another challenge, which was laying out the drone’s components. With no money to buy wires, motors or motherboards, he bought discarded electronic parts at affordable prices from a store that sold scrap appliances. When he learned to build drones, he had to move to Mysuru to further his studies. His father gave him Rs. When he left home to pay for college, he received 8,000 yuan. When all the money was gone, he started offering tuition to pay for rent and food. He will invest all his earnings into buying drone parts. At one point, he was even asked to leave the apartment he was renting because he couldn’t pay the rent on time. Pratap spent several nights at bus stops, traveled long distances to pay school fees and even skipped meals to save money for his project.
The road to international acclaim
After many attempts and experiments to make drones, he succeeded in his 50th trial and one of his drones flew to a height of 1,000 meters above the ground. In an interview, he spoke about this and said:
I don’t know anything about aerodynamics or engineering. No one was even there to guide me. When I exhausted all my options, I used common sense. I made some basic changes like placing the flight controller in front, maintaining the center of gravity and getting a balance between all the drone parts. “
His teacher suggested that he participate in innovation competitions across India. He started his journey at the age of 16 when he participated in his first drone competition at IIT Delhi and won the second prize. After his win, the judges suggested that he participate in an exhibition in Japan, for which he had to travel to Chennai to have his drone thesis reviewed by a professor there. When he wanted to travel to Japan, he faced financial difficulties in buying a plane ticket. His mother suggested selling her jewelry, but the school helped fund the tickets. His teachers pooled their money to buy the plane tickets and support the project that will be presented at the 2017 Tokyo International Robot Show. He arrived at Tokyo International Airport carrying a drone weighing 300 kilograms and two sets of clothes. Due to a limited budget, he chose to take a regular train rather than a bullet train to reach the exhibition venue, Tokyo Big Sight. Just Rs. With 1,500 in hand, he transported all the drone parts to the exhibition site in four trips. When he arrived at the venue, he saw that the other students were very confident and spoke English fluently. He felt nervous in their presence but tried to stay focused on his goal. On the second day of the exhibition, he displayed models made from electronic waste in seven rounds. After the presentation, only 20 teams were selected. Although he initially thought he had failed, his name made it to the top 20 teams and he won the gold medal.
Drone Prathap debuts at Tokyo International Robot Exhibition
In 2018, he participated in the Einstein Innovation Gold Medal International Drone Expo in Hannover, Germany, and won subsequent international awards. He has received numerous accolades, recognitions and invitations from universities across the globe, as well as numerous job offers. Although he was offered positions in over 87 countries, he turned them down and chose to contribute his drone technology to India.
Use of drones in India
In 2019, his drones played a vital role in helping thousands of people during floods in southern Karnataka. By using drones to assess the situation, police were helped to deliver food and basic relief supplies to affected areas.
Drone Prathap uses his drone in NDRF project
dispute
Detained for violating quarantine regulations
In July 2020, Bengaluru’s Talaghatta police arrested Drone Prathap for not complying with the quarantine order. He was facing charges of violating quarantine rules after traveling from Bihar to Hyderabad and then to Bengaluru on July 15. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) directed him to stay in quarantine for 14 days at Thalaghatpura in Bengaluru, but he chose to stay in quarantine for the interview. After the police informed him about the FIR, he switched off his phone and could not find him. However, the police arrested him on July 20.
Conflicting claims about winning international awards
Drone Prathap faced controversy in 2020 when he struggled to answer basic aerospace questions during an interview, despite previously claiming to have won international awards in the field. When asked to show off the drone he claimed to have built, he refused. He claimed to have won a gold medal at iRex 2017, but media reports refuted this claim, and the Japan Robotics Association (JARA) said no such incident occurred in 2017. He also claimed to have received the Albert Einstein Gold Medal for Innovation at the CEBIT Expo in Hannover, Germany, 2018. However, reports indicate that no such awards were presented at the CEBIT summit.
Awards won by Drone Prathap
Additionally, a picture of a drone he shared that he claimed to have built was disputed by German drone manufacturer Billzeye, who suggested that they built the drone and that Pratap was just One of those posing with drones at the expo.
prize
He was awarded the Kannadiga Award of Excellence in 2018.
Drone Prathap wins Kannadiga Excellence Award 2018
Facts/Trivia
- He is also known as the Drone Scientist.
- He follows a non-vegetarian diet.
Drone Prathap’s Instagram post about his eating habits
- In 2023, he became one of the contestants in the 10th season of the reality show Bigg Boss Kannada.
Introducing Drone Prathap as a contestant in Bigg Boss Kannada Season 10
- Pratap said in an interview that he used the prize money to set up an aerospace laboratory in Bangalore to focus on improving drone technology.
- When he first started his journey, his parents, relatives and friends were not supportive. He mentioned in an interview that whenever he wanted to resign, he would draw inspiration from a photo of former President Abdul Kalam that he carried in his wallet.
- In his spare time, he likes to watch English programs “Friends” and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education