![]() ![]() ![]() KU also selected the deployment sites and enabled us to team up with the very pro-active Community Disaster Management Committee (CDMC-9) of Kirtipur to survey the town of Panga, which had been severely affected by the earthquake just months earlier. We had already received written permission from the CAA to carry out all UAV flights thanks to KU’s outstanding leadership. The second-half of the day was dedicated to operations. Pix4D, also on site, followed up by introducing their imagery-analysis software. DJI took the lead by training 30+ participants on how to use the Phantom 3 UAVs safely, responsibly. ![]() The second day focused on direct hands-on training. These talks were given by myself, KU, DJI, KLL and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Nepal. The full program is available here. The first day comprised a series of presentations on Humanitarian UAV Applications, Missions, Best Practices, Guidelines, Technologies, Software and Regulations. Our joint UAV mission combined both hands-on training and operational deployments. This mission represents the first major milestone for Kathmandu Flying Labs (please see end of this post for background on KFL). We thus spearheaded a unique and weeklong UAV Mission in Nepal in close collaboration with Kathmandu University ( KU), Kathmandu Living Labs ( KLL), DJI and Pix4D. The mission of the Humanitarian UAV Network ( UAViators) is to enable the safe, responsible and effective use of UAVs in a wide range of humanitarian and development settings. They are the first wave of robotics to impact the humanitarian space. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are aerial robots. This strong military connotation explains why our Nepali partners use “UAV” instead, which is the term we also used for our Humanitarian UAV Mission in the land of Buddha. The ancient story features Drona, a master of advanced military arts who slayed hundreds of thousands with his bow & arrows. While some prefer the word “drone” over “UAVs”, the reason our Nepali partners use the latter dates back some 3,000 years to the spiritual epic Mahabharata (Great Story of Bharatas). We felt the same yearning after landing in Kathmandu with our UAVs. Their stupas, like Everest, stretch to the heavens, yearning to democratize the sky. Buddhist Temples adorn Nepal’s blessed land. ![]()
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