Harshavardhan Zala, a 14-year old child, created a buzz at Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit by signing a MoU or Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Science, Government of Gujarat. The MoU which is worth of Rs. 5 crores has been signed for the production of drones which have been designed by him. These drones help to detect land mines on war fields.
Harshavardhan is a Class 10 student who developed three prototypes of the drone. Most of the children of his age are preparing for board exams while Harsha has been busy in developing drones. Apart from that, he also prepared a business plan in this regard. He started working on the landmine-detecting drone in the year 2016.
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On this occasion, Harsha revealed that he was deeply moved by the injuries caused to soldiers due to landmine blasts. Therefore, he decided to develop the drone which could detect landmines. He spent Rs. 5 lakh for developing three prototypes of the drone. He thanked his parents and the state government for funding to the project. The state government granted Rs. 3 lakh for the project. Harsha's parents too shelled out Rs. 2 lakh for the project.
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Explaining about the functioning of the drone, Harsha said that the drone has been equipped with a 21-mega pixel camera which can take high-resolution pictures, infrared, RGB sensor and thermal meter. The drones fly two meters above the surface and can send waves about eight square meter area. The waves help to detect the landmines and also communicate to locate a base station.
He further explained that the speciality of the drone is that it can carry a bomb weighing 50 grams which can be used to destroy the landmine. He is looking forward to manufacturing the drone and get it tested by security agencies. He has also registered for a patent and has set up his company named 'Aerobotics'.