Coronavirus outbreak: Researchers team mentored by Thala Ajith disinfect public places with drones

Dhaksha, the researchers’ team from Indian Institute of Technology, which was once mentored by Thala Ajith, has been using drones to disinfect public places to contain the spread of the global coronavirus pandemic.

“Now, we are working in collaboration with the state government to spray disinfectants, especially where human accessibility is difficult. For this purpose, we’ve modified the drones with special nozzles to spray disinfectants. These drones are flown using petrol and can be continuously flown throughout the day. On Saturday, we covered around 3 lakh/sqm and sprayed almost 900 litres of disinfectant,” a team member told TOI.

“Whenever Ajith is here in the city and free, he comes as a technical advisor. He might join us on this project as well if he’s free. Whenever he goes abroad, he manages to gather information on developments in the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) field and shares them with us. Recently, we developed drone taxi and he contributed a lot in its development,” the team member told about Ajith.