Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank' laid the foundation stone of a new technology innovation hub of Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H) named as technology innovation hub on autonomous navigation (TiHAN) which will act as a testing facility for Autonomous Navigation Systems both on ground and in space. Minister of State for Education, Sanjay Dhotre , Director of IIT Hyderabad, Professor BS Murty, Chairperson of Board of Governors, IIT Hyderabad, Dr BVR Mohan Reddy also attended the virtual event.
Union Government's Department of Science and Technology (DST) has sanctioned Rs 135 Crores to IIT Hyderabad under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) to set up TiHAN. IIT Hyderabad has allocated two acres of land for project TiHan
Mr Pokhriyal said about the project that, “TiHAN Foundation, established at IIT Hyderabad, is a multi-departmental initiative, including researchers from Electrical, Computer Science, Mechanical and Aerospace, Civil, Mathematics, and Design at IIT Hyderabad with collaboration and support from reputed institutions and industry. It is a great step towards AtmaNibhar Bharat, Skill India and Digital India”.
He further said that TiHAN is focussed on addressing various challenges hindering the real-time adoption of unmanned autonomous vehicles.
Director IIT Hyderabad, Prof B. S. Murty emphasised the need to test the new innovation as he said, “In general, both UAV and UGV testing may include crashes and collisions with obstacles, resulting in damage to costly sensors and other components. Hence, it is important to test new technologies developed in a safe, controlled environment before deployment”.
It will be the first step in creating a test bed to evaluate the autonomous navigation of vehicles.
