Phnom Penh: What looks like a vehicle from the “The Jetsons” cartoon, is now a Khmer reality. A passenger-carrying drone has been built by students from the National Polytechnic Institute of Cambodia and it’s been getting a lot of attention both on and off campus. The future has come to Cambodia, and it comes from Cambodia. This two and half meter drone can fit one person and can fly for 10 minutes. It’s a result of teamwork from both Mechanical and Electronics students, with two permanent students and four assistants helping with the welding and wiring.

They say the Drone took one year to build. EAC interviewed the two permanent students coordinating the experiment. One of the Electronic students, Lonh Vannsith, says it’s very easy to control. However, there is a limit to a person’s weight – only 60 kilograms maximum. He has added that they are working on making the drone capable to fly with a person weighing more than 60 kilograms.

Drone’s General Mechanic of the Invention, Chroay Sotheara says they have teacher’s supervision from the Institute. He says, “Yes, we have two teachers to help this project and support us. One from Electronic Engineering, his name is Sarin Sereyvatha and one more teacher is Hour Sokoun, his from Mechanical Engineering.

Sotheara explains how the drone works, “About our propellers, we do it with a motor. We take it two parts, first the top part and second the under part. For top part it works clockwise and under part it works control clockwise.” He hopes that it can be used by Firefighters and maybe, one day, as a passenger vehicle to ease traffic congestion.

^{PHOTO: SARY
LOCATION: NPIC - National Polytechnic Institute of Cambodia}