BUCKLE UP: CAMBODIAN STUDENTS BUILD MANNED DRONE

INSPIRED at first by a desire to beat their city’s traffic, a group of Cambodian students have designed a prototype drone that they hope can be used to ferry people around Phnom Penh and even help fight fires.

With eight propellers and using a chair for the pilot’s seat, the drone was developed by students at the National Polytechnic Institute of Cambodia.

The prototype can carry a pilot weighing up to 60kg and fly for about 10 minutes for a distance of 1km. It took three years of research and development and cost around $20 000 (about R296 000) to build. | Reuters