Four students of the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras have built drones that can identify people trapped in disaster-hit areas and communicate the information to relief task forces for action.
The ‘Eye in the Sky’ drones are artificial intelligence and computer vision enabled and can detect persons partially buried in debris using swarm intelligence modules. The technology was developed based on the experience of past data on disaster management.
The team won the finals of Indian Innovation Growth Programme University Challenge held at IIT-Bombay recently and was among the top 18 innovative startups from across the country. It will receive ₹10 lakh as equity-less funding. It has also won the Microsoft AI for Earth grant.
Lt. Gen. (retd) P.R. Shankar, the team’s faculty advisor and Professor of Practice, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT-Madras, said the innovation was based on “futuristic disruptive technologies. It will be a powerful tool for saving lives and providing succour during disaster relief and humanitarian aid operations”.
According to him, with further marginal development it could be extensively used in surveillance operations. “The innovation team is working with NDMA and Armed Forces to develop and deploy indigenous technologies for totally Indian solutions to Indian problems,” he said.
Ayush Parasbhai Maniar, third-year electrical engineering student, said, “The final aim of our startup is to make end-to-end drone software solutions which can be used by any disaster response force of the world.”
