WA student designs cheaper, safer drone

A drone that could replace the costly and dangerous use of helicopters to muster cattle in remote areas of Australia has been developed by a law student in Perth.

Tom Maclaurin, a 19-year-old student at the University of Western Australia won Student Start-up on the Year at the university’s inaugural Innovation Quarter Awards for his invention.

He developed the drone after talking to WA cattle farmers about the expense and risks involved in using helicopters to muster cattle. The cost is estimated at around $57 million annually, and over the past decade helicopter mustering has caused the deaths of more than 15 pilots.