“My drone’s propeller is broken!”
“My RC car is missing a wheel.”
“This computer needs to be replaced because of one fried chip on its board.”
“Update the aerodynamic design? We’ll have to launch a whole new product for that.”
Such statements are what common users, manufacturers, industrial designers and companies fear deeply; a trivial but crucial component of an equipment can render the who thing useless, that is why laptops and phones are so often tossed in the garbage but it almost never happens to cars, small upgrades in technology may require an entire update in a product; while it might just be a part of the conspiracy theory that companies want their customers to upgrade their equipment again and again instead of simply updating small components in the said equipment like just the camera or just the processor of a phone, but tinkering is very common in certain industries, especially in the market of large scale, expensive products like cars and airplanes; when your car’s clutch plate wears out, you don’t replace the car, you replace the clutch plate.
So why don’t we try the same for smaller products? What about drones?
Well, that is exactly what Drone Aviation is doing, an IIT Bombay based nano-drone startup effectively empowering individuals who use drones, at grass root level.
“Being tinkerers ourselves, we’re well aware of the demotivating crashes, burdensome coding and other challenges that limit the scope of tinkering and innovating with drones. PlutoX was engineered particularly ensuring agility, durability and affordability for fellow tinkerers,” says Apurva Godbole, co-founder of this drone startup.
It’s like lego blocks, but for adults!
If we had to put it really simply, we’d say that what Pluto – X is meant to be is like Lego Blocks, but for adults. A customizable, convenient to build and tinker, drone, along with its components, is not just a product, it’s a vast set of possibilities open to the creativity of whoever uses the Pluto – X DIY kit. What Drone Aviation, in its very essence, is doing is utilize the common user or the customer as a valuable resource, a technical and creative resource that can help innovate drones and drone applications. As they’re free to construct the drone, program it and add gadgetry to the said drone, the customers or the common user can help innovate drone technology by leaps and bounds.
“Instead of slowing down tinkerers with a cumbersome process to add hardware like cameras, sensors or even another board to their drones, we want to make development easy for them. We want to fuel their imagination and encourage them to explore more possibilities while tinkering,” says the CTO and co-founder, Prasanna Shevre.
With India’s emphasis on the utilization of their massive national student body and amateurs in expanding, improving and innovating the drone technology and drone based applications and products in their country, India is definitely setting some pretty obvious prints of their effort in technology.
For more information visit the PlutoX website.