Ever wondered from where Vidhu Vinod Chopra, producer of Aamir Khan’s blockbuster 3 Idiots, got the idea of using a drone (UAV)? From four IIT graduates who would have made Boman Irani aka Virus (watch the movie) bristle with anger. Their startup IdeaForge, is now working shoulder to shoulder with the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) to strengthen the country’s security.
It was their common interest for robotics while at IIT-Mumbai, that brought Ankit Mehta, Rahul Singh, Ashish Bhat and Vipul Joshi together. Little did they know that it would turn out to be one of the leading defence startups in the country. “We did not have any idea to begin with. But we were sure that a high-paying job or higher studies in the US can wait because the compatibility we four had, as a team, could never be found ever again,” recalls Rahul Singh, CTO, IdeaForge.
What transformed this idea of four young minds into the earliest prototypes in their field was an international award platform. “We were selected for MAV 2008, an international defence competition, and emerged as the top most contenders. This exposure gave us the needed assurance in the product and we never looked back,” says Rahul. The team would thank its lucky stars that it had the will to take the road less travelled, as they soon came up with a product called NETRA, in collaboration with DRDO. It wasn’t long before the IdeaForge team was in regular conversation with the Defence Minister to propose their ideas over a cup of tea. Proving its mettle during disasters like the Uttarakhand floods — for locating victims, and crowd management during political and religious rallies in Gujrat, Ideaforge made sure that they were relevant across the board.
But the team’s vision is way beyond what it has already achieved as the pioneers of the UAV concept in India. “When we think about competition, we aim to compete globally, thus quality becomes our first priority. Second, we constantly seek out the brightest minds in India to join us to further develop the product,” says Rahul.
Primed for Flight
It is a portable unmanned aerial vehicle which can fly over the area of interest up to a height of 400 metres and send continuous real time video of every movement of people, vehicles or any movement within an approximate area covering a circle of 8 km diameter.
The salient features include a completely autonomous flight mode, which means, the vehicle flies on its own and returns on its own to the home base after completion of the mission. It is so user-friendly that anyone can operate it within a few days of training.