IIT Madras Opens Applications for Five-Day Swarm Drone Technology Symposium

IIT Madras is inviting applications for a five-day Symposium on Swarm Drone Technology, scheduled to be held from October 12 to 16, 2026. The programme is being organised by the institute's Department of Aerospace Engineering and will examine how drones can operate together as an intelligent, coordinated system.

The symposium is being conducted under SwaYaan, a national initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) aimed at strengthening India's unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and drone ecosystem.

According to the institute, the programme will combine technical learning with practical experience. Sessions will cover drone fundamentals, autonomy and control, communication and multi-agent systems, swarm algorithms and emerging drone technologies. The event will also focus on swarm intelligence, multi-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) coordination, autonomous navigation, distributed control and intelligent decision-making.

Participants will receive hands-on exposure through quadcopter assembly, mission planning, drone simulation and flying. The schedule also includes industry interaction and a visit to a drone technology company.

The symposium will bring together faculty members and scholars to discuss the technologies needed to develop reliable and autonomous drone swarms.

Interested candidates must complete their registration by October 5, 2026. For registration-related queries, participants can write to aero.events@smail.iitm.ac.in.