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This is a wonderful development in the field of drone where in IIT Kanpur with the association of The Government of Malawi and UNICEF have developed a new Unmanned Drone that can deliver packages from one pace to another place. This drone is a helicopter in shape and size. This is developed to deliver medicines and life-saving kits from one place to another place in Malawi.

This project was a joint venture of IIT Kanpur with EndureAir (sponsor and partner of IITK) which was approved by the Malwai CAA for first humanitarian drone testing activity involving medicine delivery at Malawi as part of UNICEF drone corridor.

This project was started and completed at IIT Kanpur. The Autonomous Helicopter has been developed by the students of Aerospace Engineering Department of IIT Kanpur; Mr. Nidhish Raj (PhD), Mr. Sagar Setu (PhD), Mr. Ankur Duhoon (Research Engineer, IITK alumni) and Mr. Joydeep Bhowmik (PhD) under the guidance of Prof. Abhishek who is the Assistant Professor of Department of Aerospace Engineering , Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and Prof. Mangal Kothari, Assistant Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering.
The recently developed Rotary Wing Unmanned Air Vehicle (RUAV) at IIT Kanpur is having the capacity of carrying 3 kg of useful payload which is very essential for life and flies for over 120 minutes without break with the single refill fuel. The maximum speed of the RUAV is 75 km/hr in a routine fly and the top speed that can easily reach up to 120 km/hr in case of need. The fuel used in this RUAV normal petrol available in petrol pumps which common people use for their bikes and cars etc. and by this, it empowers this RUAV to give better performance than a battery-powered drone which was used earlier. The autopilot system which is called the “brains” of the RUAV to run fully on autonomous mode has been completely designed and developed by the students of IIT Kanpur.

The trial of this RUAV likely to be in Malawi would allow checking the capabilities of the existing platform for which it is designed. The feedback received after the test run would allow the developers to enhance the design and make necessary modifications further if required. This RUAV will play a key role in facilitating the delivery of critical supplies like medicines, life-saving equipment during calamities to remote areas where it is impossible for men to reach and which are not easily accessible by other means. The trial is expected to be in February 2018 at Malawi whgich will be witnessed by the developers of the IIT Kanpur team.

If this becomes a successful test then this RUAV can be a life-saving drone and can be utilized at emergency times like floods, cyclones, earthquakes and other types of emergency like situations where it is almost impossible to provide immediate life-saving medicines for any human being. Also, this can be utilized to provide medicines in areas where it is hard to reach. IIT Kanpur has made many developments in the past and this one going to add another feather in their cap definitely with the development of this Rotary Wing Unmanned Air Vehicle (RUAV).

As a reader, you are requested to provide your feedback about this development and the effort of IT Kanpur. Thank you!