GUWAHATI: Students at the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IIT Guwahati) are encouraged to use innovation, technology, and creativity in aeromodelling. The club has created a variety of drones with the goal of creating "smart drones" with user-friendly interfaces for regular people to interact with drones, such as "warehouse drones" for warehouse management, "reaper drones" for military and law enforcement, "ornithopters" modeled after birds that can be used for surveillance in confined spaces and for wildlife photography, and "RAVEN," an indigenously created vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capable fixed-winged craft.
According to sources, students have also created a drone that can shoot at targets with extreme precision, in addition to these projects. In order to wait for the pilot's order to fire again, the firing mechanism is built to return to its initial position.
Rishikesh Das, a third-year student in the mechanical engineering department at IIT Guwahati, shared his experience working with drones. "RC planes have always fascinated me. It has provided me with a tremendous opportunity to learn about aircraft design and aerodynamics. I'm much more intrigued by the number of potential drones. It is great to be able to help society and solve problems by working on initiatives at the aeromodelling club."
The aeromodelling club was founded informally by students with an interest in aerodynamics in 2013 and became officially recognised by IIT Guwahati in 2015. Since then, the club has participated in numerous on-campus and off-campus activities.
According to sources, The club has offered training seminars in a number of subjects throughout the years, including computer vision, RC aircraft hardware, and aircraft design. Recently, they were able to acquire seed money from Technology Incubation Centre (TIC) IIT Guwahati to create a "reaper" for commercialization.
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