IIT Mandi’s Robotic System to Aid Disaster Response

IIT Mandi has developed an advanced multi-agent robotic system designed to provide crucial relief during disasters. This innovative system can operate both on land and in the air simultaneously, ensuring timely aid reaches those in need.

During adverse conditions and disasters, delivering relief to affected areas often becomes a significant challenge for the administration, leading to delays in providing timely assistance. However, the multi-agent robotic system created by IIT Mandi trainees aims to address this issue effectively.

The trainees at IIT Mandi have engineered a multi-agent robotic system capable of working independently both on land and in the air. This system utilizes aerial and ground vehicles, making it fully capable of transporting goods from one location to another without any obstacles. It operates autonomously, moving in all directions without assistance. Currently, the system is designed to carry loads, but future enhancements will enable it to unload goods independently as well.

Efficient Load Transportation

Explaining the multi-agent robotic system, an IIT researcher shared, “The ground vehicle will handle the transportation of loads from one place to another, while the aerial vehicle will guide it through navigation. Our system is expected to be highly effective in disaster-affected areas. Additionally, it can be utilized in other sectors such as automatic warehouses. The aerial and ground vehicles communicate with each other. Since drones have limited load-carrying capacity, we place the load on the ground vehicle, and the drone navigates it to the designated location. The drone creates a path and assists the ground vehicle in reaching the target. This project was initiated under the guidance of Professor Amit Shukla from the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Center at IIT Mandi, with Professor Ashok Kumar from the School of Medical and Material Engineering advancing the project.”

Two Years of Dedicated Effort

The trainee students revealed that they have been working on this system for the past two years. The ground vehicle, capable of moving in any direction, was developed at IIT Mandi. Currently, the system is focused on transporting goods from one place to another. Ongoing work aims to enhance the aerial vehicle, enabling it to unload goods autonomously in the future.