 Good afternoon folks. Ted Ralston here on our show, Where the Drone Leads, ThinkTek Hawai'i Downtown Honolulu and with me are probably our highest ranking frequent fliers on this show. We have Kanoa, Jimenez, Kanoa, and we have Michael Motas. Both gentlemen are the co-founders and CEO and Chief Technical Officer of Kolea Gold, a local enterprise moving into the world of unmandered systems and the analysis and the products they produce. And the reason we're here is... Thank you for having us, Ted. Okay, yeah, you know I was just gonna say I was saying before the show began we're approaching our 100th show on this episode on this show and I think that at 100 episodes it's time to renegotiate the contract with the guy who runs the station. You see him running around here sometimes, so we're gonna be holding out for some higher level of reward of some kind starting at show 101. Stick around. You guys can share part of that. Anyway, a little negotiation in the public here, right? Yes. But it's nice to be back again. Good seeing you guys again. Last week was off for this show and the week before you ran an excellent show for us. You had some kids on from a Nui Nui school out in Palo Alto, and we'd all just got back from Palo Alto. Yes, we did. In fact, this little bird sitting right here last flew in Palo Alto air about an hour ago. Yeah, and it's unfortunate we weren't able to get those footage out today, but it was a great, you know, Aloha to the community and to everyone and letting them know we were actually the students Kaimi, Ka'uhi, and Ka'ili, or mainly Ka'ili and Ka'uhi was able to operate today and capturing the students, not the students, but the location of their property or their school. The main purpose of our whole project today was getting their footage set for their website. Ka'ikulakaya Puni o Anui Nui, where the Hawaiian emerging school out in Palo Alto. So it was a great day today. And the weather broke just in time, didn't it? The wind cooperated, the sun came out and everything. It hasn't been that way for about two weeks. So that was a pretty good pretty good piece of fortune. But what we have now in the in the data banks on this bird and on yours is enough information, video and stills to produce whatever artifacts they want on that website that would illustrate any edit, any approach, any view of this of the school, plus for the upcoming Makahiki can begin mapping out the specific locations where the people are going to be, where the entry is going to be, and where the various events are going to be, from an overhead view. Right. And so the kids can do that. So the kids can actually use this information, which they collected to generate the views that they need for their event. What are we doing here? You know, it was a it was very important to, especially for today. And thank you for clear weather. We were so worried, oh, man, it's raining again. You know, all operators, all drone operators know when it's cloudy outside, it's real tough. Or even a photographer, it's, it's tough to get clear shots. And we were able to head out to the school and the looks on their faces, the students, man, it was, it was priceless. Just seeing them ready to learn, ready to step into the unknown of unmanned aircraft. And the best part about it was explaining why we're here. You know, we're, we're individuals who believe in challenging the status quo, teaching you something that is so complex to make it more simple, how to take off, how to check your battery. Good lesson that we talked about too in the location that we were. The school is 10 miles away from the airport. You go on before you fly up. We learned that, oh, it still shows that you're still within an airspace of certain operations that you still need to question. And, and it was a good lesson for the students on how to operate within 10 miles from the airport and knowing your location. And the best part about it, I think that was the, the fact that the community in Palo Alto knew that a school was doing drone work on their campus and they approved. That's, that's like not only approved, it was done with all regulations attended to and certifications. The three of us have 107s. If that was ever an issue, we can do this under educational interpretation or under 107 as a commercial operation. Right. So everything was preset and planned. And there was no question. No. And if there's a chance to anybody had an issue, they could have raised it in advance. We could have worked it out. And before we get on to the, that aspect, I wanted to drive back to something you were talking about, about the student involvement and such. And one thing goes through my mind all the time. And this is why it's great that you have Kainoa as an engineer on the team. We look at these systems. And they're based on available technology at the time they were designed. In particular, in this case, in this particular system, the public band radios are used for communication between the ground controller and the flight unit. Those radio bands are used by a lot of things are used by wireless, they're used by garage door openers are used by medical equipment. A lot of things use an unlicensed band. So we're going to have to tackle as a group the problem of saturation and the problem of security and reliability in radio frequency communication. So one thing we have to instill in the kids is to ask that question. And you as an engineer could help me ask that question. Okay, kids, this is how it works today. How's it going to work tomorrow when we have 500 of these things trying to work together? How are we actually going to make these things operate and have them operate safely? So what is intriguing to me is always putting that question on the table. What's next? What do we have to think about in dealing with the flight operations or the technology? And that really comes down to engineering. I've been in this long enough to realize that so many people who are operators don't really see that level of depth and don't have that appreciation. Operators are great for what they do. They operate. But we've got to help them see that there's things that go beyond just the operations that we have to think about for the next stage. And in my mind, there's a long way to go here in getting all this functionality up to speed. And the kids we're dealing with, the ones you guys are working with, they're the ones that are going to do it. So great getting them started and asking questions right now. And you wonder how much engineering to try to inject into the high school system. But that's over to you to figure that one out. Well, it's all basically just one step at a time, which was the purpose of today's lesson, which was get them involved with using the material. Because I remember when we first met those two, which was Kaouhi and Ka'ili. Unfortunately, Ka'ili couldn't make it today. But Ka'ili and Ka'uhi, they both stated that they never flew a drone before. They've only seen what it looks like. And the only footage they've seen was on YouTube. So today was a good icebreaker and a groundbreaker to really utilize what all this technology in front of them does. And so it was really nerve wracking, but at the same time, awesome to watch this kid fly. I was intrigued by how quickly they picked it up. I mean, they had no problem at all with the hand controllers and the concept of eye and hand coordination and such. And so once again, their minds aren't tainted by anything that's occurred prior to it. It was their first contact and we should ask them, Okay, you guys are first timers here. What would you like to see in terms of additional functionality that would make it even easier and make it more reliable? And that's the thing we have to keep pursuing here. I just can't get off that sand box enough to say that that's what the future is. And there's no reason in Kaouhi we couldn't be part of that. No? To elaborate on that is the outcome. What I noticed is that we're always thinking outside the box and that we're always focusing on the outcome. What is the outcome of this entire industry, this entire idea or intellectual property that we're focusing on? And the beauty about it is that students, you know, all of us, operators, engineers, business, I mean, we all have that perspective of thriving. And the fact that we're doing it here in Hawaii, yeah, imagine, you know, if you imagine or we already are imagining that there's going to be a lot of UAVs in the air. Okay, how are we going to get that? If we focus on the process of getting 500 in the air, then we lose. We're going to get frustrated where we'll be like, oh my gosh, I don't know how to get all 500. But if you just keep the outcome that we're going to have, a lot of UAVs out in the open to better our community to help in individual problems that we deal with every day from traffic to providing health care for emergency situations, if we focus on that, that's the outcome of using UAVs, then the next thing we know. You just said something magic. Let me interject. We're going to have to control you like we controlled Darrell Long. He's only allowed to have one bright idea, two bright ideas for sure. We're going to have to limit you in the same way, Michael. But take today's example. The community was involved with the kids taking the story home to their parents. The kids were involved by actually hands-on and the teachers were involved. In the conversation, I can tell you what's going on and we'll go on at dinner table and breakfast table and such. Why don't we do this? Ask the kids to work with their parents and come up with three things that Polono Valley cares about that are hard to get at and would be important for them to understand. And one thing I can think of would be albizia is falling in the raised arms and such and blocking the stream or even on the power lines. So it would be really cool to get the neighborhood to think of an issue that it is dealing with that the kids can assist with with the overhead imagery. And that's how we get the overall approval from the communities because they've seen the outcome. They've seen that, okay, got these drone operators here. They're teaching kids how to solve problems. They're going to solve problems for where I live. Absolutely. Go ahead. Besides coming in and like, oh, they're invading my privacy. I don't trust them. No, our approach is a lot more different and it's not complex. It's simple. It's real simple. Just focusing on the outcome and not the process. As soon as we get into the process, it gets real complicated. So that's why I believe, like we believe that these kids, the way they learn today, the way they operated your drone, our drone, it was like they can learn so fast. I mean, just stepping into the unknown. That's why I said on the field, what are we doing here? The kids already have it mastered from that perspective. Now we've got to get them to master the engineering issues and where that future is. And Margie, I hope you're taking notes out here, but it's the outcome that ought to drive our approach. The process will have to follow and fit the outcome better than get tangled up in the process and lose sight of the outcome. That's a really important message. And I'd like to say that we are up in Alaska at the conference that University of Alaska has every year. And Alaska is the mothership in this Alaska, Oregon, Hawaii, Mississippi connection called Pan-Pacific Unmanned Air Systems Test Range Complex. And George Purdy was up there. Shout out to George Purdy. Can't shout out enough to George Purdy. He was up there and stole the show in Alaska because he had the stories about community involvement, educational involvement and such, just like we're doing here, that he's done online. And that was something that that group hadn't seen. There's sort of a lot of people there, all high-end people in terms of their business side, but they hadn't seen that outreach to education and that level of visceral commitment at community involvement level. And we had that came up again even in a discussion this week with some folks in Texas. So there's something we can export here and benefit the rest of the world by the level of direct involvement. And you guys on this island, George on Manai, Maui, and we got to figure out Kauai and Big Island too here in Molokai. But that's something that is perhaps best understood here in Hawaii. And that is a strong point that we need to think about. So let's think about that a little bit more and figure out how we're going to sort of build that into our programs after we get back from our first and only break in today's show. Yes, let's do it. Hi, this is Jane Sugimura. I'm the co-host for Kando Insider. And we're on Think Tech Hawaii every Thursday at 3 o'clock. And we're here to talk about condominium living and issues that affect condominium residents and owners. And I hope you'll join us every week on Thursday. Aloha. Aloha. My name is John Wahee. And I used to be a part of all the things that you might be angry at. I served in government here and may have made decisions that affects you. So I want to invite you in. I want to invite you in to talk story with me and some very special guests every other Monday here at Talk Story with John Wahee. Come on in, join us, express your opinion, learn more about your state, and then do something about it. Aloha. Still Friday afternoon, folks. We're still here at the Think Tech Studio in downtown Honolulu, our show where the drone leads today, the drone leads to the air over Palolo Valley and a Nui Nui school up at the top of the valley. And welcoming on our guests again. We have, once again, Kano Eminus. Aloha. And Michael Motus. Yes, Ted. And you guys are getting so comfortable on this show. Yes, we are. I bet the airspace around you starts to conform now. So it's great having you here, having this continuity. But having you share what you, the evolution of your thinking has been going on here in the six or so times you've been on this show, we've gone a long way in that thinking. We've got Nanakuli traffic coming up. Yes, we do. Today we did Palolo Makahiki preparation and we just, right on this table at the first part of the show said we're going to work with Palolo Valley Neighborhood Association and the school and figure out some tasks to take on that these systems can assist with. I'd like to highlight that, the fact that this is the 100th episode. Not quite, almost. I'm just setting up for negotiations on a salary. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Set that up because we're going to have a lot of followers in the, especially in our community. They're seeing us. We're going out. Coleg Gold, you know, we come a long way. You know, we're a young company at two years old, but we're at this stage where now we understand what we're striving for. What are the outcomes that we're looking at? I like that. The second time you've used the word outcome, first in the first half of the show and you've used it in the second half of the show, I think that's now your standard, okay? Everything is judged by the outcome. Everything, definitely. And the outcome for Kainoa and his intellectual property for, you know, the first time we got a job, we opened it up. We was repairing. And now we, now that we, you know, we're at that level where we can say, okay, we've mastered everything inside and out of this, of this drone operations and including receiving our certificates, all our Part 107. Now what? What is the outcome of this? And the outcome is going to schools, go to Onrinuea, link back to all our schools that we've been a part of, the whole community getting out there recreationally. That's very key. Recreationally and having them understand you folks can operate and learn and teach education and build this curriculum for the future because the outcome of that is understanding you're going to have many drones in the air and you got to be ready to know what exactly is happening. I don't want to, we don't want to catch anybody off guard. We want to make sure that everybody's involved. And with Kainoa's, with Kolea Gold, we're striving for manufacturing, for building. We want to build drones. We want to get to that level where not just any kind of drones, drones that is going to set the outcome of helping each and every problem. And state outcome to find drones. Rather than take a drone out of some manufacturer just as it is, create the requirements that cause that drone to be executed in a way that meets the outcome that you're looking for. Keeping it real simple because we believe, that's what we believe in. Especially here in Hawaii, we believe that we're the ones who's going to change the world when it comes to using technology, bridging culture and bridging all the necessary legalities that you think would be very difficult. But like I said, if you continued on the process, it gets real tangled up. Think about the outcome. The outcome can help you see, have that mind-sight of getting out and helping the world. I got to go back a bit. We shouted out to George Purdy. We got to shout out to you guys of Kolea Gold as well. You're a company. You got to make money to stay in business. And yet you put all your time with the schools, you put all your time with the community organizations and here on the show, and it's not making any money. So you're able to find a way to be altruistic and promote goodwill and such and also continue running the business. So that's a great compliment to you that it is not just business. It's the future that's in your mind as well as today and Revenue. We learned that if you help enough people get what they want, you can get everything you want. So we just got to make it real clear, be real detailed as to what exactly we want to do. And it was always from the beginning like, okay, we have this idea. Now it's just being general or broad if you just say, I like be one drone operator. That's not detailed enough. You got to look into the outcomes of everything that you're going to do and then you're going to notice these people need to have problems too that they need help with. Revenue is looking forward to doing their Makaiiki project. That's something that we today just helped them with. We mapped out their map for Makaiiki. Our purpose for today's class was getting their footage or aerial footage for their website so they can demonstrate their school through aerial footage and photography. Like I said, if you help enough people get what they want, you can get everything you want. And in the middle of that, the guy who translates that outcome to the system that's going to get it is the engineer. The fact that you guys have both ends of the spectrum covered is great. It is difficult getting the engineering voice in there because it does speak into process aspects but as long as we can keep the engineering focused on the end item and the outcome, that's superb. And again, we just came across this last week, same time we were up in Alaska, there was a conference in New York called the Unmanned UTM, Unmanned Traffic Management UTM. It's a NASA program and FAA program trying to figure out how these things are going to be used beyond just one up in Balolo Valley. When you have 500 over 100,000, how's that going to work? And the way it's designed right now, it's a channelizing of the airspace. You would register how much airspace you need and when you need it, the altitude and the lateral dimensions. And if you meet some performance standard, you would be then reviewed and granted the space for a certain time and then you get to use it for your mission, whatever it may be. That's an interesting philosophical thought, extremely difficult to execute and I was somewhat secretly amused by the report that was given coming out of that meeting that, hey, when everything worked, they did some testing with a bunch of different drones of different types and when everything worked, that means the pilots aren't distracted, it wasn't raining and there was no big winds blowing and there was no failures of any kind. When everything worked, everything worked, okay, I got that. As soon as there was even the smallest disruption, like an ambient airplane coming through or a performance problem or a mechanical problem or something like that, the system kind of fell apart. That is, it wasn't possible for all those drones at the same time to maintain their position, their space, and their separation. And what does that tell you? Well, that's not a surprise really, but that's where the engineering comes in. If we start, how do we prevent that from happening? Well, we're going to have to develop performance standards. There's going to have to be a certain amount of excess power, a certain amount of cost of intolerance, a certain amount of engine loss, accommodation. There's all kinds of really interesting engineering problems buried in there and I'd love to have you work with those kids that are new and new and start them thinking about that. That's what's going to separate, what's going to make the future work is something that is, as you say, is simple. It's reliable and regardless of what fails, it continues to work and perform the mission and that's something we don't have today in this world and we're going to have to work hard to achieve. Right. Well, my perspective, from an engineering perspective, to simplify it, overall, what I view the drone is, is it's pretty much a simple tool to solve all those intricate problems that you and my business partner were discussing earlier. For example, the Polo neighborhood association, there's a problem that you said with the trees and the debris and the buildup of the canals, that's a problem. Well, the drone is the perfect tool for that and that's overall, that's exactly what I was messaging and trying to incorporate and I guess give subtle hints to the students today was it's not about what kind of drone you have or what fancy material you have, it's the drone overall is a drone and it's a tool. How can you use the tool, which is the drone, to overcome any of these obstacles, which is you want to see the Makahiki. Well, no one's seen it from a bird's eye view. You can use the drone as a perfect tool to utilize that. Other parts is, for example, non-akui traffic, like a project that we are working on and hopefully hope to execute it in the near future, but we're still working on it is the drone. The drone is the perfect tool so that is what we are trying to incorporate into the community of Hawaii as well. And let's not lose sight of that Polo next step beyond Makahiki and have that wide community involvement. It's going to be just like the non-akui traffic. In fact, I don't know if you got the message I sent on it a day or two ago, but the guys in Texas are doing the Department of Transportation work bridge inspection and highway inspection. And they said, but the thing we don't have, we don't have the community involvement and the educational connection. So there's a great connection right there and we can start learning from them what they're doing about the technical things and we learn and they learn from us about how to make this thing palatable and socially acceptable within the community. We look at the community and it's real simple. You have community and you have entrepreneur. You have the two aspects that our legislatures was sharing with us is that you got community and entrepreneur. What do you do with these two and what overall can you, the bigger picture is that community is the trump card. If you have the community support you can do anything and everything. I got to tell you, the words simple in the world, the words in-state, objective and outcomes are going to help me a lot because I've got this weekend to put together our strategy coming out of the state conference we had about a month ago. And you just said it, the trump card is use that word, the trump card, but the trump card is community buy-in, community advocacy and community benefit. And that is not just the aerospace community in the case of something like this. It originated in aerospace but really it's beneficiaries are agriculture, education, school, environment coastal erosion, invasive species, all the different aspects that come together and become a quality of life are where that outcome is measured. And that's going to be an important part of the strategy because to promote growth in this capability by funding education, by funding grants and such is going to require that broad body of support from people well outside of the aerospace sector. So I'll turn to you guys to help me put that together in the terms that you have so eloquently used here today and all times of the past. Yeah, definitely. I mean we're in transition. We're not trying. We're always in the process. One thing that I can relate back to is even when I was at Kalai Law airport when we were flying with Wright Flight School, my teacher there, even in our books, they show you physics. They talk about Newton's laws. And it kind of dawned on me that I was like, man I really think that Newton's second law, you know, when we're in motion where there is no... I like that motion. I like that second law. We now have Micah's first law. And we have Kaino's second law. And that's simple and that's in-state objective and outcome. And let me thank you guys for coming on the show again. Thank you for having us. Micah, and thanks for it. Palolo today, we'll do it again. Palolo problem, not a cooling problem. Every Friday. Okay, every Friday.