First humanitarian drone, developed at IIT Kanpur in association with Endure Air put into use for medicine delivery at Malawi

 

 
First humanitarian drone
 
 
 

The Government of Malawi and UNICEF has launched an air corridor for potential humanitarian use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones. This is the first of its kind in Africa and unique in the world for the application of drone with a focus on humanitarian and developmental purpose.


The joint application of IIT Kanpur with EndureAir (sponsor and partner of IITK team for this activity) is approved by the Malwai CAA for first humanitarian drone testing activity involving medicine delivery at Malawi as part of UNICEF drone corridor. This is a great opportunity for IIT Kanpur and Endure Air to collaborate and compete on a global platform.


The solution based on Autonomous Helicopter has been developed by the students of Aerospace Engineering Department: 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 and Prof. Mangal Kothari, Department of Aerospace Engineering. The current Rotary Wing Unmanned Air Vehicle (RUAV) developed at IIT Kanpur is capable of lifting 3 kg of useful payload and fly for over 2 hours. The best range speed of the RUAV is 75 km/hr and the top speed can easily reach 120 km/hr. The UAV uses regular petrol as its fuel, which enables it to achieve better performance than battery powered drones. The autopilot which is "brains" of the RUAV for fully autonomous operations has been fully developed by the students. The trial in Malawi would allow to test the capabilities of the existing platform. The feedback received would allow us to enhance the design further. This solution would facilitate delivery of critical supplies to remote areas which are not easily accessible by other means. IIT Kanpur team would be heading to Malawi for trials and demonstration in February next year.

 

Video Demonstration of Package Delivery System Developed at IIT Kanpur

 



 

 

 
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