Students of Madras Institute of Technology have developed a prototype of heli-drone (helicopter cum drone) that will help hospitals send life-saving medical supplies to the hinterland in Tamil Nadu.
The students' team has recently finished runner-up at the UAV Medical Express Challenge in Australia.
The first of its kind drone is able to fly at an altitude of more than 2000m, carry a load of 100 kg and fly continuously for more than three hours.
The team of students, who developed the prototype of the drone, was working as per the advice of actor Ajith. The cinestar was keen on seeing his dream of having a heli-drone materialise after he realised the loss of scores of lives due to lack of medical supplies in the remote areas.
Apart from helping the team in developing the heli-drone, actor Ajith has also visited Germany personally to meet with the employees of Vario, a helicopter firm and understand the feasibility of the project.
Hospitals now have started approaching the team to make heli-drones for them.
“We have plans to bring out economically affordable unmanned helicopters,” Senthil Kumar, Associate Professor, MIT told Time of India.