Chennai: “More than being proud we would say winning the Drone Olympics has increased our responsibility towards developing the drone technology across India,” says director of Centre for Aerospace Research, Anna University, K Senthil Kumar.
For the first time in India, the government organised Drone Olympics in Bengaluru under which various drone competitions were held. The team Daksha from MIT campus, Anna University, participated in various categories and bagged a gold and two silver medals representing the State.
In a conversation with News Today, Senthil Kumar says, “This victory will enable manufacturing of more drones in India. Undoubtedly, the future of the world will be ruled by drones when it comes to security and surveillance purposes. In that line, Tamilnadu has highly skilled engineers and scientists in the field of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). Our team performed excellently at the competition.”
He also informs that the team has signed MoU with Bharath Electronics and ISRO to enhance the UAV capabilities for national interests.
A member of the team Daksha, E Karthick, says, “This is the longtime dream of Team Daksha and we got the gift for our continued hardwork. We have got talented professors who guided us in correct path. We are now working for our upcoming project and will continue to inspire students to get into this profession.”
| KALAM’S PAT |
| “The foundation of all the projects that team Daksha have carried out were laid by former President A P J Abdul Kalam in 2001. Being his student, I took over this team in 2002 and started working for various funding projects. He was regularly monitoring our projects and guided us,” says Senthil Kumar. |
| NEXT MISSION |
| Senthil Kumar says, “The Indian Air Force will be conducting a competition in which 50 drones have to be operated under one control system and fly for about 50 km. We are now gearing up ourselves for this project and will be executing in four months.” |
| AJITH, A GOOD GUIDE |
 Actor Ajith Kumar who was appointed as the advisor for the Mission Unmanned Aerial Vehicle last May guided the team Daksha to bag medals at Medical Express-2018 UAV Challenge held at Dalby, Australia.
Senthil Kumar says Ajith Kumar belongs to the helicopter piloting and has been rendering good team work from his part. |