India to have its first aerial organ transport system

A team of IIT Chennai headed by Dr R Chakravarthy has made a fully autonomous hybrid aerial vehicle for the transportation of organs. The invention is first of its kind and will be equipped with a vertical landing system and will have 1 hour and 36 minutes flight time covering 60-100 km range per charge.

New Delhi:India is all set to have its firstfully autonomous hybrid aerial organ transport vehicle in the coming days.

A team of IIT Chennai headed by Dr R Chakravarthy, a professor in the department of aerospace engineering has invented a fully autonomous hybrid aerial vehicle (HAV) for transposing organs.

"Organ transplantation is all about timing, from the time the organ is harvested to the time the organ is transplanted to the recipient. If we go by road, we get stuck in a traffic jam. In remote areas, there is unavailability of ambulances and the roads are also not good. So we decided to cut short all these problems with our invention," said Dr Chakravarthy in an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat on Tuesday.

"At IIT Chennai, we developed a hybrid aerial vehicle which looks like a drone," said Dr Chakravarthy.

"We are targetting to cover a distance of about 50-100 kms with payload up to 5 - 6 kgs with 60 kmph speed. We are trying to include all necessary equipments and make it a super sophisticated aerial vehicle," said Dr Chakravarthy.

"We are also approaching the DGCA for necessary approval to get the aerial permission," added Dr Chakravarthy.

Dr Chakravarthy has already demonstrated the invention to the Union Health Ministry.

According to sources, the Health Ministry is also likely to give its approval to the organ aerial transportation system.

The HAV will be equipped with a vertical landing system and will have 1 hour and 36 minutes flight time covering 60-100 km range per charge.

"By July end, we will further scale it up to national level and complete integration with the organ transplant ecosystem and by December end we will expand its usage in Tamil Nadu," said Dr Chakravarthy.