A team of teachers and students of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Dharwad, led by Sudheer Siddapureddy and Ameer Mulla, has developed a fire rescue assistant drone.
The project was completed with funding from TiHAN Foundation, IIT Hyderabad (NMICPS, Government of India).
The unveiling and demonstration of the fire rescue assistant drone was held during the two-day workshop on Drone Design and Autonomous Navigation in Fire Rescue (DDANFR 2024) held at IIT Dharwad on May 31 and June 1.
The event was organised by the Fire and Thermal Research Laboratory (FTRL) and the Control Systems and Robotics Laboratory. The fire rescue assistant drone is said to be the first of its kind.
Elaborating on the new fire rescue assistant drone, Prof. Siddapureddy, who is faculty in-charge at FTRL, said that it was challenging to design a drone small enough to navigate indoor spaces and capable of withstanding high temperatures.
“The FTRL has made significant contributions to fire research community, including identifying sensors that can operate in sooty environments and creating flexible protective shields for the drone after numerous fire experiments. The research team continues to explore other critical aspects of fire safety, such as evacuating people during emergencies,” he said.
Prof. Mulla elaborated on how their team at Control Systems and Robotics Laboratory overcame the challenge of navigating the drone in smoky conditions. “This breakthrough has applications beyond fire safety, including crowd management at large gatherings like railway stations, malls and pilgrimage centres,” he said.
During the inaugural session of the workshop, Director of IIT Dharwad Venkappayya Desai spoke on the historical establishment of IITs and how IITs have significantly contributed to the development of various projects, including biotoilets for Indian Railways.
He said that research conducted at IITs have fostered technological advancements and innovative solutions for real-world problems.
Dean (R & D) Pratyasa Bhui inaugurated the workshop. Keynote speakers included Bhaskar Dixit of Jain University and Siva Bathina, a post-doctoral researcher from IIT Madras.
The first day focused on fire safety, drone design and various navigation algorithms. The second day featured hands-on demonstrations by Arvind Pandit (Senior R&D Engineer at Indrones Solutions Pvt. Ltd.) and Rajat Joshi on fire evacuation and navigation software.
Published - June 03, 2024 08:25 pm IST
