In India, PARI is one of the leaders in the robotics business. Global manufacturing giants such as Hitachi, Bosch and Caterpillar are using its industrial robots. Companies such as LG, Samsung, Honda, etc are also using PARI robots. Another Indian company, HiTech Robotic Systemz, has developed a social-robot called NEEL, which the company claims “can mingle socially with humans by intelligent human interaction, instruction following, and personalized solutions etc.” The company has an impressive lineup of robo-products.
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| 1. The robotics business is broadly divided into two sectors—industrial and service, with service robots of two types—professional and personal. |
| 2. The world's total stock of operational industrial robots in 2006 was 951,000 units, 3% greater than 2005. |
| 3. By the end of 2006 about 40,000 service robots for professional use were installed worldwide. |
| 4. According to estimates, around 3.5 million personal robots are in use. |
| 5. The global market for industrial robots is projected to rise at an average of 4.2% to touch 139,300 units in 2010. |
| 6. The industry in India is expected to grow by 2-2.5 times of the global average. |
| 7. There are about 1.2 million industrial robots working in factories worldwide, according to the Industrial Federation of Robotics. |
Similary, TRI Technosolutions is an IIT Bombay alumni venture in the field of educational robotics and embedded systems with current focus in college level education. It was founded in November 2005 and is currently incubated at SINE, IIT Bombay. “We started with initial capital of few lacs. Recently we have taken funding from a VC firm,” says co-founder Gagan Goyal. TRI has conducted over 120 workshops to cater to the needs of nearly 15,000 students across the various cities of the country. TRI is a constant facilitator in the scientific and technical education of students by providing them requisite resources through a wide variety of robotic kits, software based programming tools, basic and advanced level workshops and Web-based learning resources.
On a high
The Indian robot market is still in its nascent stage, but on a high-growth trajectory. The country is becoming a major hub for the production of industrial robots. The global market for industrial robots is projected to rise by an average of 4.2% to touch 139,300 units in 2010. In India, however, the industry is expected to grow by 2-2.5 times of the global average.
According to the World Robotics 2007 report “in 2006, the number of industrial robots supplied in India almost doubled to about 850 robots. At the moment, the actual numbers are quite small, but this escalation in the supply of robots testifies to the dynamism of the Indian market.” Goyal of TRI is bullish on the growth of the industrial robotics market in India. “There will be good growth in the near future, but to a limited extent. For home and personal robotics, currently, I think there is not much of a market in India. But this market is going to be very big 5-10 years down the line or maybe more,” he says.
The Industrial Federation of Robotics estimates that by the end of 2010 there will be about 1.2 million industrial robots working in factories worldwide. In 2006, China was the third largest robot market in Asia, with 5,800 newly installed robots, about 29% more than in 2005.
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Starting your own biz
Given the projected rise in demand for both industrial and service robots, the business seems to be a lucrative one. As for the cost of setting up a robotics startup in India, Milind Shastri, Director with a German robotics startup gives his estimates. “Company registration including professional fees could be between Rs 30,000 and Rs 50,000; the cost of training, relocation and adjustment of manpower (depending on the structure of the company and the type of management procedures) could be upto Rs 2 lacs; office space and set up may cost between Rs 30,000 and Rs 1.5 lacs,” he says. Shastri says the essential technical equipment (depending on the type of product or service) could cost Rs 50,000-Rs 10 lacs, and set aside Rs 20,000-Rs 1 lac for general office equipment.
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As the business is high-tech, and involves specialized skill-sets, the challenges could be many. Shastri says that apart from the usual challenges faced by startups, some of those specific to robotics companies include finding and maintaining an expert team, as there is dearth of people with good interdisciplinary experience/education. Goyal of TRI, whose initial challenge was mainly getting good people to work with agrees. “The issue has been solved to a certain extent now because of time and validation of the idea,” he says.
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“Other challenges could be those related to technical services like specialized robotic equipment products, etc. Finding investment is a typical problem,” says Shastri. To deal with the challenges, Gridbots started making their own native software and hardware modules to overcome the problems of resource availability. This enabled them to come up with quite efficient solutions to their problems at lower costs.
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written by pink boots sale, November 18, 2010
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