THE TALE OF DRONE AND DHANDHA

Two boys from Odisha, bored with their engineering curriculum, ventured out to build a rocket during their college days and got appreciated by Prime Minister Modi in his Mann Ki Baat. They are now providing enterprise drone solutions under the banner of IG Drones, with a remarkable business model directed by the motto 'Every Home, One Drone!' And as if that was not enough, their 'big aim' is to upskill one million Indian youth with the latest drone tech.

- Vaishali Yadav

A typical drone has three important components: frame, motors, and microcontroller. Our country has a mature carbon fibre or composite material industry, hence replicating frames is not a problem. Brushless direct current motor (BLDC) manufacturing is also blooming in India and, with some R&D, we will be able to replicate the drone motor building soon. The challenge is the brain of the drone, that is, the control board based on a microcontroller. “We are indigenously developing our flight controller, with our own software,” says Bodhisattwa Sanghapriya, founder and CEO of IG Drones.

The electrical and electronics engineers and the founders of Invent Grid (IG) Pvt Ltd, Bodhisattva and Om Prakash, endeavored with Project VSLV (VSSUT Satellite Launching Vehicle), which was India’s first multipurpose student rocketry mission. After the Prime Minister Modi’s recognition, ISRO took over the project. But the boys had found their way. They had gained crucial experience in building that rocket while gathering, processing, and analysing geospatial data. They realised that “the data is the game.”