Tata Steel and Bengaluru-based Aarav Unmanned Systems (AUS) have inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which the latter will provide end-to-end drone solutions to the Indian steelmaking company for effective management of mines.

The main objective of the partnership is to co-develop and deliver sustainable and end-to-end integrated solutions focused on the safety, efficiency, and productivity of open cast mining operations.

Tata Steel will also collaborate with Aarav Unmanned Systems to offer exclusive drone-based solutions such as geo-technical mapping and mine analytics among others to Tata Steel group companies across multiple stocks and mining locations across India.

D. B. Sundara Ramam — Tata Steel Raw Materials Vice President said: “We are excited to work with AUS again, this time for a longer duration and with a broader vision of sustainable development. Drone survey enabled digitalisation and other technology will assist in gathering impactful and actionable insights.

“We see enormous potential in redefining core mining processes such as exploration and mine planning using drone data and adequate analytics.

“These end-to-end mining solutions are economical, demand fewer on-foot exploration requirements, and improve production, efficiency, and site safety. We also intend to offer our learnings to the rest of the world’s mining companies as a professional solution from our fully owned unit, Tata Steel Industrial Consultancy Limited.”

Aarav Unmanned Systems is said to have been closely working with Tata Steel to provide drone technology for modernizing the latter’s mining operations. The latest contract won by the Indian drone start-up will focus on leveraging remote mine monitoring to enhance safety, efficiency, and productivity of the mines.

Vipul Singh — Aarav Unmanned Systems Founder and CEO said: “Tata Steel is one of the world’s leading steel companies and it has been an honour to provide our sustainable and integrated mining solutions for their operations.

“The accuracy, reliability and consistency of data is critical in the mining sector, and our solutions will be able to improve Tata Steel’s productivity & efficiency and contribute to modernize their mining operations.

“Tata Steel’s trust in us to create end-to-end solutions jointly with them, for the domestic and global mining industry, directly reflects on the vision we share and openness of a behemoth like Tata Steel to partner with a startup to derive the most effective solution.”

  Aarav Unmanned Systems, Bengaluru, D B Sundara Ramam, drones, India, Tata Steel, Vipul Singh