Puducherry: A five-day Boot Camp and Hands-on Training Workshop on “Computational and Practical Aspects in Drone Technology Towards Sustainability” was inaugurated at Pondicherry University on November 3.

Organised by the Department of Green Energy Technology, Madanjeet School of Green Energy Technologies, in collaboration with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, NIT Rourkela, the programme is funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) under the Capacity Building for Human Resources in Unmanned Aircraft Systems project and sponsored by the South Asia Foundation (SAF).

Prof K Tharanikkarasu, Director (SEI & RR), Pondicherry University, inaugurated the workshop and highlighted the growing role of unmanned aerial systems in agriculture, energy, environment, and disaster management. He urged participants to use the training to contribute to India's self-reliance in drone technology.

Dr M K Padmanabhan, Director, Virginia Tech India, stressed the need for interdisciplinary collaboration in advancing drone applications for sustainability. The event also featured addresses by Prof B M Jaffar Ali, Dean (i/c), and Dr P S Balaji of NIT Rourkela.

The workshop, held from November 3 to 7, features expert lectures and hands-on sessions on drone architecture, AI-based aerial systems, 3D design, and flight demonstrations.