Kambyan ManUsIA + AleX Laser Cutting Drone Technology!

Kambyan Network recently invited us to a demonstration of their AleX laser cutting drone, which is designed to harvest oil palm fruits.

They also invited David Cirulli from the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, and Associate Professor Sagaya Amalathas from Taylors University, to talk about the ManUsIA digital agriculture technology and the future jobs available to young teens today.

 

Kambyan ManUsIA Digital Agriculture

Kambyan Network has been working with David Cirulli of the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Singapore to develop what they call the ManUsIA digital agriculture technology.

Manusia is actually a Malay word for human, and it is an apt moniker because according to David Cirulli, ManUsIA stands for Man Using Intelligent Applications.

ManUsIA is a digital agriculture platform that Kambyan is developing as a SPaaS (Solution Platform as a Service) offering to improve yield and reduce manpower in agriculture.

It combines the use of drones with artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities on the cloud to make use of surveillance data and weather information to maximise yield and reduce manpower requirements for dirty, difficult and dangerous jobs.

ManUsIA will start with drones that are remotely controlled using mobile device integration, and eventually hope to integrate intelligent drones that work independently.

 

Future Jobs For Teens Today

Kambyan also invited Associate Professor Dr. Sagaya Amalathas, a Programme Director at Taylors University to talk about future jobs that teens today should consider.

She points out that the future will be highly dependent on new digital skills in the areas of Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence, as well as Blockchain technology, and the Internet of Things.

She also shared some really useful information on what careers will remain stable in the fast-changing times, and what jobs will be lost and what new opportunities will arise.

 

The reason why Kambyan invited her was because their training arm, Adroit College offers a Drone Operator & Robotics course.

The Professional Certificate in Robotic Process Automation – Field Operations (RPA-FO) course combines a 5-week intensive workshop with an apprenticeship and internship program at Kambyan, allowing the student to graduate with a Professional Certificate in 11 months.

 

Kambyan AleX Laser Cutting Drone Demonstration

The star of the event was the Kambyan AleX laser cutting drone – the Airborne Laser Cutter Mark 1.

Designed to be a laser harvesting drone for the oil palm industry, it weighs 3 kilograms and is approximately 70 cm in diameter.

Powered by a 150 watt pulsed laser in the operational model, it is capable of cutting through 6 inches of plant material.

Piloted remotely by a drone operator in the current iteration, it will be used to trim the fronds of the oil palm trees and cut through the stem of oil palm fruit bunches to harvest them.

Using drones will not only reduce manpower, it will allow plantations to let their oil palm trees grow much higher, reducing the need to cut them down so often.

This will increase profit over the long term, while reducing the oil palm industry’s impact on the environment… in particular their contribution to the slash and burn activity that results in terrible haze in Southeast Asia.

In the demo, they used a less powerful laser for safety reasons. But as this video shows, that itself is a danger!

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Fortunately, the operational drone uses a much more powerful laser to cut at a safer distance. This would prevent the drone from getting hit by falling oil palm fruits or flying debris.

 

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