Allahabad boys' 'Garuda' takes off with elan

Allahabad: A six-member team of MNNIT has come up with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The drone, developed in the shape of a bird, will be launched under Startup India programme.
Led by final year student of BTech, mechanical, Aswani Singh, the team's multi-utility UAV is part of its final year project.
Talking to TOI, Aswani said, "The UAV made by us is inspired from mythological bird 'Garuda'.The biggest problem with traditional drones is that they can easily be spotted whereas our 'Garuda' looks more like a bird and is invisible to the enemy."
With a wing span of 1.5m, the drone weighs 700 gram. It can fly up to a height of 500 meters above the ground, and once fully-charged, it can cover a distance of over 8km at a speed of 80km/hr, added Aswani.
There are three types of UAVs, including the one with fixed wings (resembling airplane), Delta plane and multi-chopper, added Aswani. Other members of his team include Harsh, Anil, Akanksha , Dhwani and Sweety.
The drone can be carried in bag and assembled within a minute. It can fly for 20 minutes at a stretch, and once the power goes off, the drone gets charged in five minutes and is ready to fly again, he said. Flying at the top speed, the UAV takes perfect pictures as it is also fitted with vibration dampers, he added.
Currently, the UAV is controlled from a laptop, but the team is working on its mechanism so that the device can be operated from a tab or smartphone in future. We are working to increase the flying time as well as the range of the UAV, so that its utility increases, Singh said.
The drone would cost around Rs 50,000, he said, adding that we will be imparting training to our customers so that they can repair the UAV themselves. This will help reduce the cost of maintenance.
The team had recently trained 29 schoolkids.