An R&D Center nestled deep in the mountains and forests has captured the world’s attention—simply because every time it reveals a new breakthrough, it sends shockwaves across the globe. It has given streamers who dream of broadcasting from the wilderness hope that a metal sphere will follow their lead. It has offered those who wish to explore the mysteries of the deep sea a chance at success. Technology changes lives, and Wang Hao is simply researching one technological advancement after another.
Chapter 42: Tianbing Drone
The heated discussion surrounding Wang Hao continued to rage in the days that followed, but Wang Hao paid it no mind. He locked himself in his room and threw himself into optimizing his Xiao Long. He handed the signal transmitter he’d built to Fang Bing. Upon learning of its capabilities, Fang Bing couldn’t put it down. After experiencing his first live stream, Fang Bing realized there were simply too many issues to consider. The mobile livestream signal was a major problem. Deep in the mountains, where there were no residents, no cell towers had been built, resulting in extremely choppy livestreams. The location from the last time had been chosen by Fang Bing after several attempts; any further in, and there would be no signal at all. For the subsequent livestreams, thanks to the signal booster, Fang Bing scrapped all his previously selected locations and chose spots deeper within the mountains and forests. Fang Bing was frantically training his body and absorbing wilderness knowledge. The locations he chose for his livestreams were becoming increasingly remote, which came with significant risks. Although Fang Bing’s knowledge was sufficient to handle these deep mountain environments, Wang Hao—who remained concerned—specifically crafted some self-defense items for him. After all, being alone in the deep mountains required essential protective measures. The drones also went on sale during Fang Bing’s wildly popular livestream. As soon as they went on sale, the batch of drones assembled by Fang Bing’s parents, Zhang Xin, and Zhang Nan—a total of four people—sold out immediately. With the return of this initial capital, the drone manufacturing factory was finally established in earnest. Tianbing Drone Manufacturing, which had been registered earlier, began actively recruiting employees. Originally, Fang’s father and the others had planned to name the Company “Haobing Drone Manufacturing,” but Wang Hao rejected the idea without a second thought and instead chose the name “Tianbing Drone.” Fang Bing’s livestream caused the drones to sell out. With only four people assembling them, demand far outstripped supply, so they had no choice but to expand production capacity once again. A new batch of drone materials was shipped in following an order placed by Fang’s father. Wang Hao also had Fang’s father specially order some materials specifically for researching the second-generation solar-powered drone. This research didn’t take him much time; there weren’t many factors to consider—he simply spent some time on the structural design and material selection. Whether it was the solar panels or other components, everything was custom-made. His only concerns were how to reduce the drone’s weight to extend its flight time and ensuring the structural stability of the design. The drone’s most critical central control program was also readily available and required only minor modifications, so he quickly put together a test model of the “Tianbing II” drone. Wang Hao was now in the factory rented by Mr. Fang, watching the three drones flying in the air, when Zhang Xin walked over from the side and said with a hint of surprise “Bro, it’s been three hours already.” “One of the drones isn’t flying very steadily anymore; I think it’s about to come down.” Wang Hao seemed somewhat disappointed that the flight had lasted only this short a time, and he shook his head. This was the Tianbing II—a solar-powered drone. More than three hours had passed since he began his test, and one of the drones was finally showing signs of instability. No sooner had Wang Hao spoken than the drone seemed to receive a command and slowly touched down. The other two remained in the air, but before long, another began to wobble and came down, while the third continued to fly. “It’s a shame we have to protect the battery; otherwise, the flight time could have been even longer.” A hint of regret flashed in Wang Hao’s eyes. But if other drone manufacturers heard him say that, they’d probably be spitting blood—their drones were still struggling to last even an hour, yet he’d already developed a drone capable of flying for four hours. It wasn’t that other drone manufacturers hadn’t considered using solar power to extend flight time—but solar charging produces unstable voltage, which drastically shortens battery life. For Wang Hao, however, he had developed a voltage controller to regulate the output power of the solar panels. The only issue was that using lighter materials to build the drone made it too light; in strong winds, it would sway. It wasn’t until he programmed a horizontal stabilization routine into the control software that the problem improved slightly—though some wobbling still occurred, which was unavoidable. Lightweight drones have their advantages—they can fly longer—while heavier ones offer more stable filming. Therefore, he planned to develop two new variants of the Tianbing II: a lightweight drone capable of extended filming sessions, and a heavier model with a maximum flight time of three hours. However, the lightweight model can fly for as long as four to five hours, and Wang Hao already has a clear vision for its final design. There aren’t many people at the factory right now—only about ten—but the profit margin on drones is still quite substantial. Currently, they have no sales channels and can only sell online, with the target audience naturally being viewers of Fang Bing’s livestream. As for profits, while the procurement costs for the finished components are indeed on the high side, the excellent performance ensures that the profit margin remains quite substantial. Currently, his target audience consists solely of viewers in Fang Bing’s livestream—and it’s only these viewers who have witnessed the drone’s impressive capabilities firsthand, which is why they’re interested in purchasing one. This is because Fang Bing usually doesn’t take just one brand-new drone out at a time; he always brings two. As the viewers watched the two drones, Wang Hao had modified the drone app to add a new feature: the ability to control multiple drones and freely switch between their camera angles. The two drones circled around Fang Bing automatically, like magical artifacts, making some wealthy viewers quite envious—some of them even bought three to five units. In addition, some streamers who watched Fang Bing’s livestream also rushed to buy drones. The drones’ features were quite novel—they could even automatically avoid obstacles without human control. This piqued the interest of many streamers, but when they visited the overseas shopping website mentioned by Fang Bing, they found the glaring “Out of Stock” notice to be particularly jarring. Neither Wang Hao nor Fang’s father could do much about it, as their initial capital was extremely limited. They had spent 500,000 on renting the factory and over a million on purchasing materials—in short, they simply had no spare cash. The cost of materials and components for a single unit was around 2,500, while the retail price of the Tianbing Type 1 was relatively affordable at about 4,000. After all, Tianbing drones were unlike other drones—not only were they unknown, but they also lacked the funds for advertising; setting the price too high would hinder their initial market penetration. Compared to other drones that easily cost tens of thousands, this price was indeed very affordable, and its performance was also superior.
