Online food delivery, rescue missions and much more; test flight of multi-purpose drone conducted in Kerala successful

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Parcels of e-commerce companies and online food orders can be delivered for a radius of five kilometres. Those trapped in the disaster zone can be found. Can carry up to 10 kg of weight. The multi-purpose drone which can do all this was built by Nihal Ahmed, a native of Kazhakoottam in Thiruvananthapuram, and his team.

The test flight conducted in Poovar last month was successful. Talks are on with the government and e-commerce companies to launch the drone in the state. The drone also has an artificial intelligence-based system and a camera to detect the presence of human beings in the face of disaster. NDRF will also be approached to use the drone for rescue operations in disaster areas. Weighing 17.5 kg, the drone can carry up to 10 kg of goods and the attempt is to increase the capacity to 25 kg.

The drone was developed by Nihal's Vektas Technologies, a startup based in Kazhakoottam. The drone gained attention, including at the Huddle Global Startup Conclave held in Kovalam. Nihal, who graduated in electronics from Marian Engineering College in 2022, has Aditya, Nandu, Ananthu, Jaseel Muhammed, Hayat Mustafa, Amal, Sumesh, Shaan, Mersan and Shuhaib in his team.

Runs on petrol

Nihal and his team initially developed a drone that can carry up to 5 kg in the face of a disaster. It was running on a battery and was slow. The new multi-purpose drone is powered by petrol. This drone can fly for 35-40 minutes on two litres of petrol.

Around Rs 1 crore has been spent on the startup so far. Ten drones that can be deployed together in combat have also been built.