In metropolitan cities like Bengaluru, the only thing worse than road accidents is that wastage of life because ambulances cannot beat the traffic and get to a hospital in time. But thanks to Goutham Sharma and Jervis Anthony Saldanha, final year BTech students from MVJ College of Engineering, Bengaluru, this could become a thing of the past — they've devised a high-speed hybrid unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that will deliver intensive medical aid and emergency medical services to places where the disaster has occurred. In fact, the med-drone can potentially airlift an accident victim and bypass traffic and blitz them to a hospital — from practically anywhere.
You read that right. The vehicle can fly from one destination to the other, carrying emergency medical aid, completely disregarding all the traffic-related issues. The students are ready with the prototype and are excited about its working. "We designed it keeping Bengaluru's traffic in mind. Some medical emergencies will require immediate assistance. This vehicle takes 8 minutes," says Goutham.
They're also working towards improving the device."Right now it is devised in such a way that it can carry a 50 kg heavy person. But due to space constraints, the person has to be in a sleeping position. We are working on that," he says.
Goutham is an Electronics and Communication Engineering student, while Jervis studies aeronautical engineering. The expertise in both fields, along with the help of a few friends helped the duo to research and develop the prototype. "The idea of it is very simple. Everyone talks about it. But developing a practical model was actually difficult," says Goutham.
The drone looks like your usual aircraft, but smaller in size. Also, it is driverless and works according to the directions by the air traffic signals located in different parts in the city. Also, it is capable of vertical take-off and landing and hence, it wouldn't need a huge runway to function.
Right now the team is preparing to take this design to a fest in Australia. Their only difficulty until now has been the ban on drones in India. "We have sent an email about this to Jayant Sinha, Union Minister for State for Civil Aviation. We really hope something good happens," says Goutham sanguinely.