Activity Report of Open Application Program 2021 vol.17 (Alternative Online)
An Online Lecture for the Students at India's Top Technical University
"Using Drones to Solve Issues in the Construction industry"
Report from The Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships (AOTS)
This program was held on January 27 2022 by The Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships (AOTS) for students at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT−G). (Changed from an invitational to an online exchange program due to the impact of COVID−19) Both lecturers and students participated from their respective locations. The topic of the discussion in this program titled "Using drones to solve issues in the construction industry" was chosen because it was thought that the civil engineering students from ITT−G would be interested in it.
AOTS and IIT−G have formed a positive relationship until now after concluding a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in May 2019. This has helped them to form a comprehensive collaborative relationship through activities such as training together through human resources development, joint research activities and business exchanges. The program on this occasion was also planned based on the MOU, which upon implementation made it possible to receive positive cooperation from IIT−G.
With COVID−19 still being rampant In India, we were told that the students at IIT−G would be participating from their dormitories because movement around campus was restricted. The faculty lecturers at IIT−G were able to provide help when there were concerns about the number of students who would be participating in the program. They exceeded our expectation by being able to provide around 70 students who some of which were outside of the civil engineering faculty.
The lecture was held in cooperation with SKYROBOT Co., Ltd (Founded in September 2014, Marunouchi, Chiyoda−ku, Tokyo) SKYROBOT is a company that sells drones and the peripherals and software that are used with them. They also provide services like rental drones and training at their drone school. The lecturer at this program was one of the company's employees Mr. Yasuteru Matsunaga. Mr. Matsunaga who was close to the participating students' age and spoke English fluently, presented a lecture that had interesting content throughout, which helped capture the students' attention. The appeal of drones was shown effectively with the help of multiple videos. The use and potential of drones in other industries besides construction was also presented at a good pace. The students from IIT−G seemed like they were clearly focusing during the lecture and they asked various technical questions that only they would as IIT−G students at the end during the Q&A session.
The program of the day
- Explanation of business operations at SKYROBOT Co., Ltd
- Case studies
- What is i−Construction?
- The use of drones in i−Construction
- What is expected of drones
- Q&A session
Anjan Kumar, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT−G, commented: "It was a very beneficial seminar. I hope to see a lecture about more practical ways in which drone technology can help society next time." Although it is still difficult to invite exchange students to Japan due to COVID−19 at the moment, we would like to invite the students from IIT−G when it becomes possible to do so again in the future. Finally, we would like to thank to all the people who were involved in the program for their cooperation in helping to conduct this program.