IIT Madras Are Working On Drones For Surveillance And Disaster Relief

On October 9, IIT-Madras announced that its students have come up with computer vision and AI-enabled drones for surveillance as well as disaster relief.

In an issued statement, IIT-M said that the students have developed a humanitarian aid and disaster management services called “Eye in the Sky.”

The system can be used for surveillance once it is further marginally developed. The innovation has an immense value which is why Lockheed Martin and Microsoft have come to recognize this effort.

Retired LT. General P.R. Shankar who is the team’s faculty advisor and Professor of Practice at IIT-Madras’ Aerospace Engineering, said that the innovation team, along with NDMA as well as the Armed Forces is working toward developing and deploying indigenous technologies to deal with Indian problems.

IIT-Madras reported that a Centre For Innovation team is working on drones equipped with computer vision and artificial intelligence to come up with end-to-end solutions for accurate and critical information identification and provide communication between victims and the relief task force.

The unique thing about these drones is that their analytical modules use the latest technology. The team even created databases for some of these modules.

According to the statement, modules for trapped people detection as well as swarm intelligence are advanced technology based on the experience got from disaster management’s past data.

At the Indian Innovation Growth Program University Challenge organized at IIT Bombay, the “Eye in the Sky” team won the finals.

Rs 10 lakh worth of equity-less funding will be given to the team. As part of 390 global projects, the team has been granted the “Microsoft AI For Earth” grant.