24-year-old Melih Biçer, a graduate of the ITU Aeronautical Engineering Department, and 22-year-old Pelin Kaya, a graduate of the Electrical Engineering Department, received an endowed scholarship of 2 million lira from the Ministry of Industry and Technology (Small and Medium Enterprises). The Enterprises Development and Support Administration (KOSGEB) for the production of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) received support.
The two partners continue their work under the umbrella of Kernel Dynamics Robotik Teknolojileri AŞ, which they founded in Bilişim Vadisi Teknopark, and work at the Research and Development Center in a 150 square meter closed area in Körfez District with a load capacity of 20 kilograms Agricultural spraying, sowing, fruit packing, forest fire intervention, glass drones are manufactured that are suitable for use in areas such as washing and camera shooting.
Biçer explained that one of the products they developed with the team, which included their professors during their studies, was voted the third most effective patent of 2023.
Biçer explained that they founded their company after completing their university education last year and that they decided to become a company after their projects became eligible for support from KOSGEB and TÜBİTAK.
Biçer explained that after receiving the commitment from Bilişim Vadisi Technopark, they established the company's headquarters here and they had the advantage of being able to carry out important research and development studies at the university without commercial concerns.
“We have developed equipment that you can use for any job you want”
Biçer stated that they saw a shortage in the field of “customizable aircraft” in market research and explained that they realized that vehicles that can be customized by drone users are not easy to find.
Citing the importance of the multiple uses of the drones they produce, Biçer said: “You invest 500,000, a million lira, but the only area you can use is agriculture or video recording. It is not clear whether you will make money after making such a large investment. “Why aren’t there drones that have a market and can be used in different areas? Washing, photographing and fertilizing. In other words, we have developed devices that you can use for any job you want by removing the capsule underneath. gave his assessment.
Stating that they manufacture orders for both agriculture and window cleaning of large squares, Biçer pointed out that they continue to work with a core team of four people, but in the near future they plan to increase capital through crowdfunding.
Biçer emphasized that they aim for rapid growth with more resources and that their main focus here is exports, which will contribute to the country's growth.
“We are targeting the foreign market. We are sure that there is such a gap outside.” Biçer explained that they are trying to complete capital growth in order to sell products to foreign customers as quickly as possible.
“We want to produce 1,000 drones a year”
Stating that they are currently producing 10 units of special, competitive, salable and financially profitable equipment per month, Biçer continued as follows:
“We will expand our field and our team. Our goal is to produce 1000 drones annually. You get into this business by paying almost half the price of a car. There is a fear of falling or breaking. This keeps the market small.” If you want the market to grow quickly, you have to trust the product you are making “Not making money? We will buy this device back from you. If you don’t trust your product, the market will always be small.”
Biçer explained that in January they sold 3 percent of the company to Turkey Development Fund, also known as “TÜBİTAK Bigg Fund”, adding that they carried out the 4 million lira grant process for which after the Sales procedures new applications have been submitted for a valuation of approximately $1 million.
“We can attach anything we want to it and fly it.”
Electrical engineer Pelin Kaya explained that they have been working on drones for five years and constantly spend time on site and do a lot of testing to minimize errors in the software part.
Stating that they made the software part of the drone based on open source coding, Kaya explained that the company's process accelerated after they received approval from Informatics Valley, the center where mobility-oriented companies had settled.
Pointing out that they are currently more advanced than expected, Kaya said: “The drones we make can be used in areas such as agriculture, window cleaning and forest fires. We can attach and fly anything we want according to our customers' demand.” . This is where we really specialize,” he said.
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