Crash a drone & fly it again. Kid-friendly DIY drones may come to Malaysian schools

It’s no secret that Malaysians don’t think highly of our education system. We’re so vocal about it that even the Education Minister has admitted it sucks. And really, what’s to like when it’s a whole lot of cramming, memorizing, and mountains of boring homework each day?

Seriously, some people just learn better with their hands than their heads.

So when Meraque Sdn. Bhd. sent us a press release about their funky new lego looking drones, we went Wowza, that’s quite a bit to unpack. Firstly, ‘lego’? Second, drones? And third, what does this have to do with our education system?

Turns out, these drones are legitimate learning tools. Wildt.

*Cilisos disclaimer that these drones aren’t actually associated with the Lego brand yall know and love*

Taking classrooms outside

Here’s a little something to ponder: research shows that with any kind of techy subject, hands-on experience is the way to go.

“Tinkering with drones is a great way to spark their interest and confidence as they learn by doing,” – Md Razalee Ismail, Meraque Chief Executive Officer

In fact, this isn’t the first time an attempt has been made to liven up classrooms. Back when online lessons were in full swing, kids were learning their syllabus off the TV. Kelas@Rumah was a government initiative to reach kids with no internet connection while keeping textbook content engaging. Likewise, this project by Meraque also has the Ministry of Education stamp of approval. And Kelab Udara Malaysia will be looking to implement it nationwide in all primary and secondary schools.

Admittedly, an actual drone in hand is not like a Kelas@Rumah lesson. And while this is something new in the Malaysian scene, the US, as usual, is way ahead of us. But it’s still exciting that kids get to assemble, code and fly their own drones. To put it into perspective, these are programs like Javascript and Python we’re talking about, the two most in-demand coding languages in the market! Getting a head start is kinda like landing in a gold mine.

The bottom line is, kids are the future and it definitely shows.

“We want to discover and shape young talent in technology across the country as the global market potential for drones is huge and Malaysia can position itself competitively in this space,” – Md Razalee Ismail 

But wait, huge potential? Does this seem a little out of the blue to you?

Turns out, it’s really not.

Malaysia has its drone hands in several fields

In fact, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) calls it an ecosystem of interconnected networks. In other words, different drone companies work together in a single field. And one field may collaborate with another. Think KL highways but busier and (hopefully) more efficient.

Here’s a brief breakdown.

Agriculture is all about manual labour, and for that drones are pretty much well-oiled robots that make things faster and easier. Through avenues like smart farming and crop spraying, pesticides in veges aren’t as bad now as they were 10 years ago. That’s progress people!

These drones are no less impressive in disaster management efforts. You ever look up in the sky and see a care package just for you? If not thank your lucky stars you’re not in that red hot banjir zone. But that’s what high powered zones can do- deliver necessities to those in need, obtain a bird’s eye view of the affected areas and map out rescue routes.

Now, don’t front. You go to the beach just for your hansem abang lifeguard right? It’s okay, we geddit. But what if the sun is shining right in his eye while you’re busy drowning (in water not his good looks ofc). Yeah, are you starting to appreciate these flying gizmos now?

It’s pretty fair to say drones are busy worker bees, toiling away in parcel delivery, crowd control, racing championships and movie filming among others. So there’s a future here. The drone industry is growing rapidly, with about 100,000 jobs on the cards.

But let’s leave the global arena for a second and talk about things closer to home.

Think of it as a toy. A super high-tech, fancy shmancy one

With anything shiny and new, kids are bound to be curious. If not this drone, then one of those plastic stethoscope sets, or the little 10 key piano, or the storybook that sings. Toys are to entertain, and if they offer educational value, that’s great news for parents *wink wink nudge nudge*

But seriously, who would have thought the war drones of yesterday would become a fully functional lego-y drone today. It’s kinda insane when you think about how quickly the tech world evolves. Crashing a drone, what more intentionally, would only spell doom and gloom with real ones costing hundreds to thousands of ringgit.

Basically, there’s no harm letting kids experiment. They can pick up STEM concepts at age 10 and live their lives as child prodigies. They can even build their own drone one day, then test it out at our very own drone development hub, Area 57 (not to be mistaken with that US alien site 6 areas away)

And if all else fails, there’s always legos to fall back on. Wheee.