The future is here: Drones are now policing our streets; saving our wildlife

We've seen them hovering over our heads at music festivals and we've admired those aerial shots on Instagram. But today, from being cool gadgets to play with, drones have seen a real coming-of-age moment in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic . It's the dawn of a new era for drones, with the industry coming together to make the country a safer place.

The Drone Federation of India (DFI), a not-for-profit body that represents the unmanned aviation industry in India, has brought drone companies together, as well as photographers and videographers who fly drones to assist local authorities with tasks such as surveillance and sanitisation.

"Drones can go where people cannot and in these times, should not," says Gaurav Mehta, co-founder of Quidich Innovation Labs, one of the firms specialising in drones that have been roped in to battle the coronavirus outbreak in India. "In a situation where social distancing is key, sending out drones instead of people reduces the risk of spreading the virus."

Enforcing social distancing in Mumbai

Smit Shah, Director of Partnerships at DFI, says surveillance is the most crucial role drones can play right now. "Following a crowd-sourced surveillance model, DFI has identified around 50 drone pilots across Mumbai . Our team of pilots is working closely with the police to survey parts of the city and check whether people are following social-distancing norms."

The pilots fly their drones for a couple of hours a day within an area of about 500m around their homes, looking for signs of people gathering. This footage is then uploaded on a dashboard with the time and location, which the Mumbai Police access from their control room and send out teams to disperse crowds accordingly.

In addition to these home-based pilots, there are two on-ground teams equipped with surveillance drones and speaker-enabled drones. The former accompanies the police on their patrols. Once they spot a crowd with their drone, they send out a speaker-enabled drone to relay messages in Hindi, Marathi or Urdu, telling the crowd to disperse through a walkie-talkie or a recorded message.

In areas like Dharavi—Mumbai's congested slum area that's in the news for a frightening number of COVID-19 cases—deploying drones is an easier and safer method of communication. Sending drones out to areas that are hard to access also reduces the load on the police. "Initially, people would get excited on seeing the drones," says Shah. "But then they realised that with the drones come the cops! Now they automatically disperse on seeing the drones coming in."

Disinfecting the streets in Hyderabad

In Telangana, Prem Kumar Vislawath, founder of Marut Drones, is using these devices to spray disinfectants. "Drones have the capacity to carry up to 10 litres of disinfectant, cover a distance of around 20km and spray 200 litres of it a day," he points out.

The team at Marut has successfully disinfected a stretch of 1,900km across eight districts of Telangana . "Drones are the speedier and safer option over-spraying disinfectants manually. Without putting lives at risk, drones can efficiently sanitise public places and cover large areas at one go."

Moreover, Marut recently demonstrated to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and Ministry of Civil Aviation that drones can be used as a platform to deliver medicines.

From saving humans to saving wildlife in Bengaluru

In Bengaluru, DFI is working with the Karnataka Forest Department to keep a tab on poachers. "We have deployed drones with thermal sensors to detect movement in the forest," says Deep Kanakia, Director of Operations at DFI. "Without any human interference to deal with, poachers may think it's a good time for their business. The drone surveillance helps the Karnataka Police Department keep a tab on poaching activities in the forests."

An image makeover for the drone

The effective use of drones for good causes has helped authorities see them in a new light. "There was a lot of negativity in India with regard to drones. But that's rapidly changing now," Shah says. "Governments are beginning to realise their potential for good. You can deploy 100 people for a task, but 10 drones can cover the same area in 1/5th of the time."

Now with the coronavirus outbreak, individuals, brands and companies are all coming together like never before—and the drone industry isn't just watching from the sideline. Pilots are flying them out from their balconies or even taking to the streets to bravely battle it out beside the police. (And all without any pay).

"The idea is to be able to bring the entire industry together to fight against the virus," says Rahat Kulshreshtha, DFI president and co-founder of Quidich Innovation Labs. "We have pilots from different companies and individuals all coming together for a common cause. It's pretty incredible."