The good thing about having a technology tool be seen to be working is that it will inspire a lot of young kids into dreaming of innovations of their own.
The appearance of medical drones above the skies in Eswatini inspired fifteen-year-old Thobani Gina into building a cheap version of a drone from recycled materials: one he actually got to get off the ground for a few minutes.
And now it seems the same has happened in Mozambique too, where a student at a local university is building drones for fun in his bedroom, one of which is a delivery drone he hopes can fly for 200 kilometres while carrying three kilograms of cargo.
Nineteen year-old Cleiton Michaque, a first year electronic Engineering student at Eduardo Mondlane University, said his dream was to build a drop capable of delivering medical supplies and reducing delivery costs in remote areas of Mozambique.
After three years of proof-of-concept pilots, VillageReach launched a dedicated medical drone logistics operation in Mozambique, working with the health ministry during Drones for Health program, which established daily routine flights across drone hubs in Inhambane Province to transport COVID-19, HIV, and tuberculosis samples.
VillageReach has since left the active field and transitioned more into an advisory role in the country now, but the government is still running a drone logistics network in Inhambane, alongside its new partner, Drone Solutions Mozambique.
The drones themselves are still coming from the same drone partner, Kite Aero; Cleiton saw them flying and decided he wanted part of that.
“Instead of using the land, why not use the air, the sky, so to speak,” Cleiton recently told news agency Lusa.
“Why not use the airways? With my ability to create drones, I ended up developing this delivery system to make it easier for pilots to transport medicines.”
Cleiton’s prototype is in the final stages of testing and current test flights, often taking off from his home in the neighbourhood of Tsalala in Maputo, have so far seen the drone complete two kilometres of flight.
Equipped with GPS and an autonomous navigation system, the aircraft follows a pre-programmed route, delivers its cargo at its destination and automatically returns to its point of departure.
The batteries were imported from South Africa and they allow flights of between 30 and 45 minutes, while his other smaller prototypes have a range of between eight and twelve minutes.
You have to admit, it will be a big jump to get to 200km, but Cleiton is up for the work; he is already working on new configurations to achieve a maximum target range.
“This is because of the GPS system it has,” he said.
“Another factor is that it can reach distant areas. We are talking about other provinces.”
Cleiton insists that his drone can realistically carry up to three kilograms of cargo, which can be anything between medicines, food, water, clothing and other small packages.
“It can carry around three kilograms, but for safety reasons, we have decided during the testing phase that he drone should carry two kilograms,” he explained, adding that it can withstand strong winds.
Cleiton said he began building drones - most of them quadcopters - in 2019, when he was still thirteen, initially using his father’s computer to teach himself programming and electronics.
“My first prototype required months of research, testing and repeated attempts before he managed to get it airborne, an experience he considers crucial to the projects he develops today.”
Having built dozens of drone prototypes so far, Cleiton reckons building a drone requires knowledge of electronics, programming, mechanics and three-dimensional printing, as well as significant investment, since virtually all components, including motors, controllers, propellers, batteries and other equipment, are imported, mainly from South Africa.
“There are people who might say, ‘Oh, sometimes you just buy some components, put them together and that’s it’, but that’s not how it works.
!I would say the same thing: buy a car engine, buy tyres and assemble the car. Let’s see whether the car will work or not.”
For him, building a drone requires programming, testing, 3D printing and significant investment, estimated at €2,700 for the one he is building.
The difficulties, he added, were not only financial. He recalls spending sleepless nights solving programming problems and even crying when his first drone failed to respond to commands, until he managed to get it to fly using his father’s computer. It was his father who also helped him purchase the components he needed.
“He finally saw potential in me after having several doubts. A first, he thought it was just a hobby, but he quickly changed his mind when he saw that I was really dedicating myself to it.”
Since then, Cleiton has built fourteen drones for filming, mapping, racing and transporting small loads. He keeps all the models in a display case in his bedroom, where he has preserved the first prototype and the other aircraft, each identified with a name and its technical specifications, such as speed and range.
He has also developed internet-connected electronic sentinels and customised keyboards as part of the engineering projects he has been working on.
In recent years, Cleiton has participated in international technology initiatives, including a trip to Japan, and has been invited to give talks and demonstrations at educational institutions, including the Portuguese School of Maputo.
He also created the Centre for Creation and Control, through which he has already trained seventeen young people in drone piloting, programming and assembly, seeking to provide training and employment alternatives for vulnerable young people.
The student said he has already attracted interest from public and private companies who are looking at his drones for applications like filming, mapping, monitoring and other technical operations.
He is currently considering collaboration proposals while developing a start-up dedicated to manufacturing, maintaining and selling drones and providing training in the field.
His goal is to establish a Mozambican company specialising in drone technology and continue his engineering studies. He is considering applying for scholarships in Japan, Portugal or California in the United States, with Portugal being his preferred option because of the language proximity, to deepen his knowledge and develop solutions that can be applied in Mozambique.