Nov 4 2010
The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) Student Robot Competition 2010 was inaugurated in Chennai, India, by Sundaresh, Chief Controller Research and Development, Armament and Combat Engineering. Sundaresh stated that the Indian Army has decided to deploy 20 new Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), which were built by the Research and Development unit of DRDO located in Pune.
Daksh ROV can effectively remove dangerous and improvised explosive devices. It can be controlled from a safe distance of 500 m.
Sundaresh has mentioned that another ROV that can inspect a Nuclear Biological Chemical-affected site to detect the extent of contamination with the help of the Portable Gas Chromatograph and Radiation Measurement and Automatic Control Unit has been developed and soon it will be deployed by the Army.
DRDO officials had organized a meeting with the Director-General (Perspective Planning) of the Army, and it was reported that the strategy for deploying these ROVs would be complete in another few months.
DRDO Student Robotics Competition was participated by 240 colleges and 14 student teams were chosen for the final contest. Netra, an automatic Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) ideal for counter-riot and anti-terrorist operations was demonstrated during the inauguration function.
Alok Mukherjee, Chief Designer, has stated that the Netra UAV can fly at an altitude of 200 m and can be remotely operated from the base at distance of 1.5 km, receiving real-time video of the happenings. He added that it features two swift propellers facilitating perpendicular take-off and landing, and is likely to be inducted into the Army by the end of this year.
Source: http://www.drdo.org