Near the city of Nagoya, Takumi Yamaguchi pulls on a motorcycle helmet and sprints along an asphalt track before releasing a drone that looks like an 180-centimeter-long model airplane. It crashes shortly after takeoff.
Yamaguchi¡¯s startup, AirKamuy, can afford such mishaps because it makes cheap, mass-produced drones ¡ª out of cardboard, of all things.
He sets off another test run, which goes much better. The drone buzzes around an artificial island not far from Nagoya¡¯s main airport before returning for a landing. Engineers will gather data from the flights to adjust the device before producing the final model. If all goes well, the Defense Ministry will buy these so-called origami drones for missions that could include surveillance and swarm attacks in which the device would carry small bombs.
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