The Drone Sat at the Table
A startup selling expensive agricultural drones encounters an unfortunate technical support incident amid generational conflict with traditional farmers.
On a late October morning, an employee from Haneul Sisat arrived at a village community center somewhere in Uiseong, Gyeongbuk. He stepped out of the car and immediately opened the drone case. Four propellers, a 20-liter chemical tank, a precision GPS module. The list price was KRW 28 million. With an 80% agricultural subsidy applied, the calculation kept running through his mind: a KRW 5.6 million burden for farmers. If today’s demonstration succeeded, they could close a village-wide contract.
Grandfather Park, the village chief, looked down at the drone with a wary expression.
“Is that an airplane?”
“No, it’s a drone. It’s a machine for spraying agricultural chemicals on rice paddies.”
“Isn’t that the same toy my grandson has?”
Kang Min-jun from Haneul Sisat quietly took a deep breath and pulled out a tablet. He opened an app and loaded a field map. The GPS automatically recognized the field boundaries.
“When you draw the flight path like this, it automatically flies and sprays.”
“But if I spray it myself, I can finish in two hours. How long does this take?”
“Twenty-five minutes.”
“I’m faster than that.”
Grandfather Park’s logic was sound. Kang Min-jun found himself momentarily at a loss for words.
The demonstration proceeded as scheduled. The drone took off. A whirring sound rang out as it climbed to a height of 2 meters. But about 10 seconds in, the drone suddenly hesitated. Then, slowly turning toward the community center, it began crawling toward the eaves.
“What? What?”
Kang Min-jun ran with the tablet in hand. It was because of a swallow’s nest under the eaves. The drone’s obstacle avoidance sensor had recognized the bird’s nest and switched to “avoidance priority mode.” The drone skirted the eaves, circled the yard twice, then slipped through the open community center door.
Inside the hall, village women were preparing lunch.
The drone descended onto the dining table.
More precisely, it landed beside a pot of kimchi stew. Hot steam rose up, enveloping the sensors in a thick fog. The drone lost its bearings and half-opened the chemical tank lid. Fortunately, the tank held only water.
“Hey! Why is a machine sitting on our food table!”
One of the women waved a kitchen towel at it like she was swatting a fly. The drone flinched. Its propellers spun once, then stopped.
Kang Min-jun rushed in and grabbed the drone. The women stared in astonishment.
“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”
“Did this thing come in to eat rice?”
Grandfather Park stepped in and saw the scene. He quietly opened his mouth.
“Does this thing eat a lot of rice?”
Laughter filled the hall. Kang Min-jun’s face turned red as he cradled the drone to his chest. The KRW 28 million machine, its sensors dampened by kimchi stew steam, quietly powered down.
He called the technical support center. The representative asked.
“What’s the symptom?”
“It sat on the dinner table and got hit by a kitchen towel.”
Five seconds of silence came through the phone.
“Could you say that again?”
Kang Min-jun explained the situation from the beginning. The swallow’s nest. The steam. The kitchen towel. He heard the representative typing. It took 25 minutes to get a trouble ticket number. It was exactly the same amount of time the drone would have taken to work alone in the field.
That evening, Kang Min-jun wrote in the technical support log: “Malfunction cause: meal steam. Obstacle avoidance algorithm needs improvement.” He knew he had to come back to this village the following week. Grandfather Park had said he had a few more things to say.
The drone was loaded into the car trunk. The sensors needed cleaning, and the calibration values needed adjustment. Grandfather Park had already finished spraying the field himself. He said it was an hour faster than expected.
A cold field wind blew. Haneul Sisat decided to return in spring. This time they would patch the swallow’s nest avoidance logic and install a steam-blocking cover. Whether that would be enough, they’d have to see.
This article is for information only and is not investment advice.