CHENNAI: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Madras is all set to host the country’s first ‘night’ Formula Drone Racing on Monday evening. The event is open for public free of cost.
About top eight pilots prep equipment on the open grassy space that juts into the Manohar C Watsa stadium inside IIT-M campus setting up their first-person-video (FPV) rigs. Experts were giving final touches to the makeshift race circuit which spans over a surface area of 1,00,000 sqft and constructed with 3-dimensional LED walls and hoops for navigation.
Student coordinator Sundar Sri told Express that each pilot dons special goggles that show real-time video from keychain cameras mounted on their craft. They’re fast — most can exceed 100 kmph — but what’s more impressive is their acceleration. “They corner like a drift car; body rotating to face the direction they want to go while the drone is still sliding sideways through the air. The racers sit on the ground or in folding chairs, concentrating only on the controllers in their hands and the horizon.”
This is being organised as part of Shaastra-2017, the annual technical festival and in association with the Indian Drone Racing League (IDRL), a pan-India community of drone racing pilots.
Nivedita Manepalli, Head of Shows and Exhibitions, Shaastra 2017, said though IDRL conducted it’s first episode in IIT Gandhinagar, in October 2016, this is the first time it’s being organised during night. The event would start at 6 pm and the stadium can accommodate about 3,000 spectators.