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Polytechnic students build a Drone

News   Harris Chimatiro   September 19, 2017
PIC: Thanda Mtegha explaining how the Drone works
In the past couple of years, the country has come to realize that polytechnic has the capacity to produce innovations, which have potential of making the lives of Malawians easier. One of the most notable innovations comes from the department of electrical engineering, dubbed the drone. The drone is jointly parented by a group of third year students pursuing Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Computer engineering.

The invention has created a buzz of interest from the Minister of Education science and technology Honourable Bright Msaka who visited the design studio as he was inspecting construction projects that are undergoing at the Polytechnic.

One of the students, Thanda Mtegha, who is participating in the project said that the drone project has been going on for months now. The project involves a team of students who are being directed and supervised by their lectures.

According to Mtegha, the drone will be used to transfer blood to places of accidents when the project is finalized. “Ambulances can be delayed to transport pints of blood to places of accidents due to queue in our roads but it’s easy and fast to transport the pints of blood using drone to a place where an accident has happened” said Mtegha.

The drone is constructed from materials such as frames, motors, batteries and raspberry pie, which is a credit-card-sized computer that acts as a flight controller used in electronics projects. He further said that they had to import motors from outside the country since the motors found in Malawi are not powerful enough to carry a drone. As of now the drone can’t fly for long distance since it requires lights to make it visible when it flies by night.


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