Students from the Drone Development Programme at the University of Moratuwa on Monday, announced the development of locally designed drones or UAVs, (unmanned aerial vehicles).
Locally designed drones have been used to help map terrain after the landslides in Aranayake and flooding in Baddegama earlier this year.
Speaking at the first drone symposium in Sri Lankan at SLIDA, Moratuwa University Professor Rohan Munasinghe called the advent of drone technology “disruptive,” and said that contrary to popular belief, “it is already in the country.”
“We as the scientific and engineering community of the country have to welcome the technology, and use it to make our lives easier, to make the things that we do on a daily basis, in technical fields and in engineering fields more efficient, more accurate,” Munasinghe said.
Using a slideshow presentation, Munasinghe went through a brief history of Sri Lankan drone technology, proclaiming that though it had come a long way, it could go further. Megapolis and Western Development Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka who was the Chief Guest said developments in drone technology represent encouraging efforts by the engineering and technology community of the country “to join the bandwagon of high-tech innovation,” which the government believes is the way forward toward achieving economic development goals.
“When the Meethotamulla disaster occurred, Dr. Manju Gunawardana used the same technology to map out the Meethotamulla Garbage dump. If we could have done this earlier, we would have been able to save many lives," the minister said.
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