Strength Through Innovation: Drones Redefining Indian Agriculture
The name Thanos may evoke a larger-than-life Marvel character, but in the world of agricultural technology, it represents something far more grounded. At Thanos Technologies, the focus is on strength through innovation — using intelligent drone solutions to transform farming practices in India. The company is dedicated to advancing agriculture through cutting-edge drones that combine robust hardware with intelligent software, addressing long-standing challenges from precision spraying to crop monitoring. Designed to improve efficiency, accuracy, and environmental sustainability, Thanos’ solutions redefine conventional methods. More than a drone manufacturer, Thanos is a purpose-driven collective exploring automation and intelligence to build a sustainable future for agriculture. To understand this vision, CE speaks to Pradeep Palelli, co-founder and CEO of Thanos Technologies.
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Why the name ‘Thanos’?
The name Thanos has Greek roots, derived from ancient figures such as Athanasios, and signifies strength and enduring impact. This philosophy reflects what we aim to achieve through our technology. While the name also resonates with younger audiences due to its association with Marvel, the underlying meaning and intent are rooted in a very different philosophy.
What challenges led to the creation of Thanos?
When we began in 2016, our goal was to validate a problem at the intersection of labour and technology in agriculture. As we experimented with drones, farmers — many of them friends and relatives — highlighted a critical issue: Indian agriculture is heavily dependent on manual labour, which is steadily migrating to cities in search of better opportunities. This has led to an acute labour shortage, especially during peak agricultural seasons. Marginal farmers often manage on their own, while larger farmers struggle to find adequate manpower. At the same time, even when labour is available, spraying lacks uniformity and efficiency. Another major concern is the health risk faced by farmers and labourers due to direct exposure to chemicals, as wearing PPE is impractical in India’s tropical climate. Together, these challenges underscored the growing need for mechanisation and automation in agriculture, making drones the most suitable technology to address these issues.
You described Thanos as a technology innovation company rather than a drone manufacturer. How does that philosophy shape the way you build products like SYENA H10?
SYENA H10 is part of the SYENA series, which is our agricultural drone product line. Our core capability as a company is designing and building drones for a wide range of applications. Guided by this philosophy, we began with agriculture as our first product line, as it addressed an immediate and pressing need. The SYENA series includes hexacopter drones with a 10-litre payload capacity.
Beyond agriculture, our team’s fundamental strength lies in developing drone technology across applications. We have built heavy-payload drones capable of carrying 30 – 40 kg, surveillance drones for the army, and solutions for other defence applications. We have also developed customised drone platforms for universities and large organisations that innovate on sensors and payloads and rely on our systems for deployment. In this sense, we are a design-led company capable of building solutions for diverse problems, with drones as our chosen aerial platform. Over the past year, we have also developed and tested a prototype unmanned surface vehicle — an autonomous boat — with potential applications in maritime operations, naval surveillance, and emergency response such as flood relief deliveries.
Overall, we are an unmanned solutions company with capabilities spanning aerial, ground, and surface platforms, driven by a team focused on innovation and problem-solving.
After nearly three years of trials, you concluded that 10 litres is the optimal spraying capacity. What engineering trade-offs tipped the scale?
We did not begin with a 10-litre capacity. Our initial prototype had a 5-litre payload, and early trials were conducted in collaboration with one or two agrochemical companies. Through these trials, we understood that spray dosage is determined by chemical companies and approved by the Central Insecticides Board (CIBR), based on formulation requirements.
During testing, it became clear that a 5-litre capacity was insufficient, as it could not effectively cover even one acre. This led to trials across multiple configurations — 5, 10, 20 and 30 litres per acre — to evaluate efficiency and delivery effectiveness. Through these experiments, 10 litres emerged as an optimal balance, ensuring adequate coverage without compromising spray quality. After extensive trials, a spray volume in the range of 8–10 litres per acre was broadly accepted. Global agrochemical companies such as Syngenta and Bayer conducted their own evaluations — both with us and with other drone manufacturers — and over time, 10 litres per acre became a widely agreed standard. Several companies have since received certification for their chemicals at this dosage, with standard operating procedures now in place. While 10 litres per acre serves as a broad benchmark for most crops, higher volumes of 20–25 litres may be required for taller crops or wider coverage, and certain atomiser-based technologies can operate effectively at lower volumes.
How does SYENA H10 ensure precision and uniform spray coverage?
Drones are effective primarily because they operate autonomously. They can be programmed to follow predefined paths, and since they are computer-driven rather than manual, they ensure consistent movement without deviation. This enables uniform spraying. Their effectiveness also comes from the downwash created by the rotors, which helps the spray penetrate the crop canopy at multiple levels — top, middle, and bottom.
While these advantages apply to drone technology in general, the SYENA H10 has specific differentiators. It was the first agricultural drone to use lithium-ion batteries, the first to deploy larger motors for the same payload to improve efficiency and flight time, and the first to be entirely designed and built in-house using new materials. These innovations mark several technological firsts for the product. Environmental conditions such as wind and temperature are governed by standard operating procedures. Whether using drones or conventional knapsack sprayers, spraying should not be done in high winds or extreme heat, as wind can cause chemical drift and high temperatures can lead to droplet evaporation, reducing effectiveness. Accordingly, our SOPs specify a maximum wind speed of under 10 kmph and a temperature ceiling of around 30–35°C. These limits apply regardless of how advanced the technology is, as adherence to SOPs is essential for safe and effective spraying.
How does SYENA H10 adapt to both small and large-scale operations?
About 85 percent of Indian farmers are small and marginal farmers, collectively owning around 45 percent of agricultural land, resulting in a diverse mix of farm sizes. The 10-litre capacity drone has been optimally designed so that one tank covers one acre, making it suitable for both small landholders and farmers managing 20–30 acres. With battery swapping, operations can continue without any acreage limitation, as the same technology can be scaled from half an acre to multiple acres. For larger farms, higher-capacity drones in the 25–30 litre range are planned, while smaller variants may be introduced in the future to cater to very small holdings.
How has India’s evolving drone policy influenced innovation and real-world deployment in agriculture?
India’s drone rules, introduced in 2021, have helped kick-start the sector. However, agriculture remains a highly price-sensitive segment, where affordability is crucial. Adoption therefore depends heavily on subsidies and access to low-cost bank financing. While support mechanisms such as subsidy schemes and the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund do exist, their implementation has been limited. The industry has been urging the government to encourage banks to extend greater funding support. With effective intervention, drone adoption in agriculture could scale up by four to five times over the next two to three years.
Do you see agricultural drones moving toward a shared service model or individual ownership?
At present, drone usage operates largely through individual ownership or service-provider models, while shared models such as FPOs and SHGs have seen lower adoption. The fastest scale-up comes from aspiring rural entrepreneurs who use drones as their primary source of income. Farmers primarily seek the service rather than ownership, and adoption is strongly driven by price. As a result, affordability and access to funding are the most critical factors. Going forward, the ecosystem is expected to be dominated by individual rural entrepreneurs and large service providers.
How close are we to AI-driven drones that can autonomously assess crop health and decide dosage?
This approach is already being tested, where a scouting drone collects and analyses data, and an agricultural drone executes spraying based on those insights. The key challenge lies in the business model, as farmers may not be willing to pay for data alone. Precision agriculture combines both intelligence and automation. Currently, the focus is on agri-automation, but the integration of agri-intelligence with automation represents the future of precision agriculture — and this is the direction we are moving towards.