WE COULD BE DRONE CENTRAL
GARY King has watched drones go from gimmicks to hi-tec military equipment and now stocking fillers for kids on Christmas.
Now he wants to make the industry’s Australian capital right here in Toowoomba.
The businessman and former army officer will open his new store, Universal Drones, on James St next week.
On top of being one of the largest retail shops in Queensland for drones, the business will feature a secure research and development facility, flight simulation and testing rooms to let customers try out the machines.
Mr King said half the business would be aimed at farmers and primary producers, who now used hi-tech drones to spray crops, scan large areas for water points and weeds and even muster livestock.
“I’ve been working with drones since 2002 and we have the largest agricultural drones in Australia, in terms of size and weight,” he said.
“We’re talking about crop spraying, analytical, crop count, your water analysis.
“Our focus is about 50% agricultural, then we work with parallel industries and also consumer products.
“Our goal is to have Toowoomba as the agricultural drone capital of Australia within two years.”
Mr King, who worked with Theresa Zhang of Laguna Apartments to invest millions into bringing the latest in drone technology to the new store, also hired 10 staff from Toowoomba to run all the departments, including the R and D facility.
“There is no company in Australia that’s doing serious R and D on drones,” he said.
“Basically, in the back of our store we’re going to have an R and D facility that will find out how we can advance drone use.
“In the past four years, there have been 7400 changes in drone hardware technology, (but) computers in that time have only made 180 changes.
“That would mean the industry would still be going, but it wouldn’t be able to continue to progress until the software side picks up.”
Having worked with drones and model aeroplanes since 2002, he said education on the laws and rules around the activity needed to catch up with the fast increases in technology.
❝ Our focus is about 50% agricultural, then we work with parallel industries and also consumer products.
— Gary King
“It’s also about educating people about the rules and laws, because more people are wanting them and the laws are still catching up,” Mr King said.
“We want to educate people across south-west Queensland and educate them about what you can and can’t do, because people honestly don’t know.”
Universal Drones will open its new store to the public on June 17, with a special preview for guests the night before.