The drones choreographed a light-show of the Beating Retreat ceremony of Republic Day in New Delhi- a first of its kind in the world, which was joined by over 1000 artistes. India became the fourth nation after USA, China and UK to perform such a light show on earth.
They assembled in tiranga formation, in a tiger image and then split up and formulated map of India and a host others making lasting impressions in the minds of the spectators.
The Chief Guest of the ceremony President of India Dr Ram Nath Kovind, Supreme Commander of Indian Armed Forces, Prime Minister Narender Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the three top army commanders of India were seen watching the ceremony.
The light show was performed by the unmanned 1000 drones that had already gone viral on social media among the netizens last week. It marks the coming of age of the drone’s cutting-edge technology developed by the IIT Delhi. The drones perform this pollution-free choreography of light show in the sky to mark the Beating Retreat Ceremony here on January 29.
Supported by the Government, IIT Delhi's startup has designed and developed reconfigurable swarming system of 500 to 1000 drones that will choreograph 3D drone light shows during the Republic Day celebration during the Beating the Retreat ceremony.
Earlier, the Botlab Dynamics startup, which is incubated in IIT Delhi, celebrated Diwali using 100 drones. The night sky is lit up with drone formation representing Indian culture and tradition that has marked the beginning of a new age of eco-friendly celebration and coming of age of drone technology in India that will now replace noisy pollution- filled crackers soon.
The drone light show has come as a mesmerizing light show in the Delhi skies, The drones showcased amazing eye-catching geometric patterns of lightshow in the sky to conclude the beating the retreat ceremony, said the onlookers.
Union IT, Science and Technology Minister Jitender Singh says the drones have been successfully used in dropping vaccines in different places across India. India has joined three nations and performed the light show choreograph by 1000 drones during the beating the Retreat ceremony. With this, drone technology has come a long way in India, he tweeted.
The Beating the Retreat ceremony is a military tradition dating back to the time of the 17th century England, where the sounding drums after day’s battle indicated a halt in fighting and withdrawal of forces. As soon as the bugle was sounded, the troops seized fighting and withdrew from the battlefield.
The drones are not only being used in delivering the vaccines in Northeast, Telangana and Chhattisgarh and other states, but they are set to be used in keeping an eye on the intruders along the borders and making the ceremonies pollution free.
Also, there are a select few apple farmers, who are now trying drones to spray pesticides and scaring the preying birds, bats and monkeys away from the orchards.
Soon, Indian Metrology Department (IMD) is planning a pilot project for using drones for weather observations in a year, adds Dr Jitender Singh.
