New Delhi/Moscow June 7 (IANS) The world s first hybrid aeroboat capable of travelling on land water snow and sand that has been built by an Indo-Russian joint venture was unveiled in Moscow on Tuesday at a start-ups event organised by Russia s state-run Skolkovo Foundation.
The aeroboat is designed to access difficult terrain such as flooded or marshy areas where the use of regular boats is made impossible because of shallow water patches of dry land or by marine vegetation.
It has been designed by IIAAT Holding a joint venture between the International Institute for Advanced Aerospace Technologies and Indian firm Millennium Aerodynamics.
The aeroboat is on demonstration in and around a pond in the two-day Startup Village annual event in Moscow for technology entrepreneurs and investors organised by Russia s biggest innovation fund the Skolkovo Foundation.
IIAAT Holding board member Sukrit Sharan who is in Moscow told IANS in an e-mail interview that they have orders for more than 25 aeroboat units from private and government buyers in India of which they have already despatched five for use in disaster management.
These are much faster and more robust than the comparable hovercrafts he said.
We have already exported around five units to India both for transportation and disaster management applications. These delivered products are poised to help save hundreds of lives in India during the monsoon season when the regions experience floods Sharan said.
After our success with Indian disaster management authorities Russia s Ministry of Emergency Situations has shown very strong interest in these vehicles.
While hovercrafts on average move at around 45-50 km per hour on water aeroboats are capable of going at around 150 km or more he said.
The Aeroboat is also more robust than hovercrafts and with estimated maintenance costs of $400-$600 per year is cheaper to maintain and fuel Sharan said.
He pointed out that it runs on a hybrid engine meaning it can run on either petrol or electricity enabling users to reduce carbon emissions and increase energy efficiency.
Additionally we are equipping our aeroboats with IoT (Internet of Things) technology which allows us to remotely monitor and control and diagnose the equipment as well as troubleshoot select faults he said.
According to the makers with room for 10 passengers and one crew member the 6.5-metre-long aeroboat can handle steep slopes and embankments and does not require any marine infrastructure such as jetties since it is amphibious.
Hovercrafts work on static air-cushion whereas aeroboats work on dynamic air-cushion. This feature gives aeroboats a huge advantage in terms of speed and manoeuvrability he said.
It s possible to use hovercrafts but they are very expensive to operate and also have speed limitations. Our amphibious aeroboats can provide high-speed year-round navigation even when bodies of water are frozen like in Russia he added.
(Biswajit Choudhury can be reached at biswajit.c@ians.in)
--IANS
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