For the automated portion of operations, yes, the “geeks” need to be doing their jobs. To actually “pilot” and fly an sUAS, the “geeks” need to nothing as the pilot, as opposed to an operator, provides all the control input necessary to stabilize and guide the aircraft.
Bear in mind that an sUAS does not require flight plans, GPS, live telemetry, or cameras to fly. For all intents and purposes those are “accessories” added to enhance the flying experience or to provide features making it easier to navigate or execute an action.
The primary purpose of the flight controller module is to stabilize an extremely unstable airframe/power plant design to a level where the operator can, with confidence, send directional control commands via a radio transmitter to successfully fly the aircraft. There is no need for two way radio communications when flying a “bare bones” type multirotor as the aircraft is under constant manual control of the operator, where the operator is at all times establishing the movement and position of the aircraft.
We should understand that sUAS stands for small, unmanned aerial system, weighing less than 55lbs. Under that definition any and every small radio, remotely controlled aircraft is an sUAS as all the associated components, including the operator, comprise a “system”. Prior to the creation of auto pilots those participating in RC aviation had to learn how to fly an aircraft, how, using visual cues, to determine what control inputs were necessary and when to provide them in order to successfully fly the aircraft. They had to learn the basics of aerodynamics in order to understand the relationship between flight surfaces and their function, and to have some understanding of the forces of flight. Those people piloted their aircraft, and a great many still do in flying without an auto pilot. The majority of multirotor flyers are operators, not pilots, as without an auto pilot they could not successfully fly an RC aircraft.
Lacking the stabilizing influence of an automated flight controller, most people would crash their multirotors within seconds of lift off. Few have the skills necessary to adjust motor speeds fast enough to maintain level flight. Just the act of hovering requires hundreds of control input/response/sensor communication cycles per second. That’s part of the reason multirotor ESC’s function at 400Hz.