Story & photo by Rizal Raoul Reyes | Contributor
IN more or less five years from now, the Philippines will become a major site for manufacturing of unmanned aerial-vehicle (UAV) applications geared not only for the local but global market as well.
Randall Sayat, CEO of Mayon Studios, said his two start-ups are currently engaged in developing apps that can be used by drones for agricultural and land analytics, soil moisture, and weather forecasting and remote sensing.
“One of the main features of the app is determining the moisture in certain portions of an agricultural foundation,” said Sayat, a product of University of California, Santa Barbara and Stanford University, in an interview at the sidelines of the news briefing Geeks on a Beach conference held in Makati City.
The UAV, more popularly known as drone, is a pilotless aircraft. It can be flown autonomously based on preprogrammed flight plans or more complex dynamic-automation systems. In the early 2000, UAVs were known for its military applications, such as reconnaissance, combat support and intelligence gathering.
At the moment, Sayat said agriculture and processing giant Dole is one of the major clients of the company’s first start-up. It is providing land sensing and analytics system to the US-based company.
Mayon’s second unit provides on-demand grocery solutions to deliver groceries to customers.
“You can just imagine that drones are now being used to deliver groceries. You might have heard of Amazon playing with the idea,” Sayat pointed out. Mayon is talking with major retailers, such as SM, Rustan’s and Robinson’s for possible applications in their business operations in the immediate future. Sayat said Mayon is absolutely bullish on the prospect of drones in the country. Although we are following the US model in the applications of UAV, the country lags behind compared to its neighbors in Southeast Asia.
“Being an emerging economy, the Philippines can find many ways in applying UAVs or drones. For instance, it can help media people gather news fast and efficiently,” he said. “Moreover, the archipelagic nature of the country suits well for UAV because it delivers food, medicines and other vital supplies to the far-flung areas of the country without deploying a big number of people,” he added.
Sayat said UAVs could also be utilized in guarding the country’s natural resources, such as tropical forests and seas. As part of its modernization program, the Armed Forces of the Philippines is considering the acquisition of Predators in guarding Philippine airspace.
Sayat said UAVs are beneficial as long as it is regulated properly.
Image credits: izal Raoul Reyes