Schoolboy builds laser drone that zaps landmines from the sky - earns £600,000 from Indian governmen

[Krusty]

Probably not all types of mines, if at all. FLIR works best when there is heat emission. I have not seen an FLIR image of a mine. I know what heat emission from humans, vehicle engines, and aircraft turbine exhaust looks like.

I'm no expert but that's what I thought. I can't get my head around how he actually developed the skill set required for developing remote mine detection/disposal drones. The sheer range of expertise needed is mind boggling for a 14 year old.

He says "I first created a land mine detecting robot but realised that since the weight is heavy it would trigger a blast and damage it so I thought of creating a drone which will be at a safe distance while detecting the mines."

this statement is inself very vague. What kind of mine is he talking about? How did he test it to come to the conclusion? So many questions.. I suspect a mini bofors scam though it would be awesome to have this kid do what he claims.

For me the worst part is, I couldn't get my hands on explosives as a kid when I wanted it.. I'm jealous

 

[pmaitra]

I'm no expert but that's what I thought. I can't get my head around how he actually developed the skill set required for developing remote mine detection/disposal drones. The sheer range of expertise needed is mind boggling for a 14 year old.

He says "I first created a land mine detecting robot but realised that since the weight is heavy it would trigger a blast and damage it so I thought of creating a drone which will be at a safe distance while detecting the mines."

this statement is inself very vague. What kind of mine is he talking about? How did he test it to come to the conclusion? So many questions.. I suspect a mini bofors scam though it would be awesome to have this kid do what he claims.

For me the worst part is, I couldn't get my hands on explosives as a kid when I wanted it.. I'm jealous

Let's wait an see.

This might be another "Swachh Bharat" stuff going on in India.

Said that, I think we should not cast aspersions on the young boy. He probably did come up with the idea, but to build something as described is, as I already mentioned, quite a task.

 

[charlie]

No we should not stop, we should burst this bubble, the reason is genuine people like me womt get a funding but I don't know how this people manage to get one.

P.S. I did lots and lots of research on BLDC motor controller and discovered amd invented new feedback technique which is easy than most of the techniques available. I am going to publish this research in IEEE transaction, i have written 3 papers i am yet to publish them.

well I guess the best way for you to approach is to get a job with drone company something like skylark or edallsystem and I heard there are many small consultant that modify drone according to your need in india.

Well that's the only way to get funding once your are out of school or college I guess.

 

[pmaitra]

well I guess the best way for you to approach is to get a job with drone company something like skylark or edallsystem and I heard there are many small consultant that modify drone according to your need in india.

Well that's the only way to get funding once your are out of school or college I guess.

He first needs to publish a paper. He is talking about IEEE transaction. Basically, it is going to be a conference paper. If he gets one paper published, it will boost his career prospects manifold.

Good luck to him.

 

[charlie]

Sir, is it possible to detect mines/IEDs/explosives using FLIR equipment?

I think it was back in 2010 a concept demonstration EO with infrared bands was done.
https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1608/MR1608.appc.pdf

But these guys SAR was much better.

 

[roma]

Well just keep following the news, this guy will disappear. The Doc you mentioned is head of Gujarat Council. Have you even met a head of Gujarat Council before ? he would be the last guy on earth to talk about innovation. He is not from DRDO or from any R&D institution.

I knew this guy was educator before I even open his Linkedin account, he has more loyalty towards BJP then to science that's why he is at that post.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/narottam-sahoo-58952027

Well here is how it's going to work out they will reimburse him for the money his parents spent through the MOU just because he was enthusiastic about it and a tap on his back for doing good work(of course I am assuming). that drone.

thanks for keeping the discussion at a good level
My initial reaction was that the 14 yr old should be encouraged rather than shot down and frankly i put a whole lot of weight on that Dr so and so

......about whom you now informed me is in your opinion subject to other considerations than purely objective analysis of the project ( God help us , is that what is going on "back home" ?)

from the pic alone it looks like the kid has merely assembled together already pre-built modules and merely does the commissioning of the new assembly but with the review that the army was impressed plus that Dr chose this project for 600,000 pounds funding made me feel there was more to it ......

well so be it ....that is the "advantage " that our bros in india have over us nri's , you know better how the system is over back home

I certainly hope these will not be your last posts in the thread as we need your inputs to see how this thing pans out .....

Is he modifying existing drones or building them from scratch? I hate to say it, but @roma i smell something fishy. The expertise/skill set required for his claims is way, way past Even the best of 14YO. If he had them, he would be indias Tony stark! Not to mention the hazards of actually developing and testing a mine detection/disposal drone. But there should be something that has attracted this grant. I just hope it's not the wrong reasons. It would be great for India if this project clicked, but realistically, I am very skeptical about this whole deal

lets hope theres more to it than meets the eye ,......otherwise it's just another disappointment like the pak water car project ...i hope we are all positively surprised ...lets watch this through

$730,000? That is a lot of money
I have worked on FLIR images and I can tell you, for a 14 year old to come up with something like this, he must be very gifted.

@charlie @Krusty --- @pmaitra has summed it up better in the abridged quote ive made of his post ..... can we judge the project fro a picture ? as for the GUJCOST ...are they biased as some have suggested ? conclusion , we should not be judging from a picture


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