Students Launch “Project REBIRTH,” an AI System to Help Passengers Survive Plane Crashes

A team of students from BITS Pilani’s Dubai campus has developed “Project REBIRTH,” an experimental crash-survival system designed to give airline passengers a chance to live through otherwise fatal accidents.

The concept, now a finalist in the 2025 James Dyson Award, combines artificial intelligence with airbags, reverse thrust, and impact-absorbing materials. According to its creators, the technology activates automatically when a crash is deemed unavoidable, wrapping an aircraft in protective layers and slowing its descent.

REBIRTH’s designers, Eshel Wasim and Dharsan Srinivasan, said the idea emerged after the June 2025 Ahmedabad air disaster. “My mother couldn’t sleep,” Wasim recalled in the project notes. “She kept thinking about the fear the passengers and pilots must have felt, knowing there was no way out.” That conversation led to months of research on crash data, military landing systems, and advanced materials.

The proposed system integrates five components:

– AI detection monitors altitude, engine status, speed, and pilot response, triggering the process below 3,000 feet if recovery isn’t possible.
– External airbags deploy from the nose, belly, and tail to cushion impact.
– Reverse thrust or small gas thrusters aim to slow and stabilize the aircraft by up to 20 percent.
– Smart fluids inside walls and seats harden on impact, protecting passengers from internal injuries.
– Rescue aids, including a bright-orange shell, GPS, strobes, and infrared beacons, are meant to help responders locate survivors quickly.

A prototype built with CO₂ canisters, Raspberry Pi sensors, and layered fabrics demonstrated the concept in simulations, reducing impact forces by more than half. The team says the system could be retrofitted into existing airplanes or installed on new models.

Next steps include full-scale lab trials with crash sleds and wind tunnels, plus partnerships with aerospace manufacturers and safety regulators. The inventors plan to establish a company to pursue patents and certification, with the goal of making crash-survival systems standard within five years.

While most aviation safety tools focus on preventing accidents, the group argues that planning for survivability after failure is equally important. As the students put it in their submission, “REBIRTH isn’t just engineering — it’s a promise that even when all systems fail, people still deserve a chance to live.”