This week on Tech Probe, we look at automation as the future of manufacturing, transportation, logistics, and customer service. And believe it or not, these developments aren't just happening in our countries, but right here in India as well. The robots are coming people.
First up are Mitra and Mitri, sibling robots from Bengaluru-based Invento Makerspaces. If you don't remember, we first saw Mitra at the 2017 Global Entrepreneurship Summit, where the automated robot greeted chief guests Narendra Modi and Ivanka Trump.
These bots are designed to be personal assistants, and are powered by artificial intelligence systems. To facilitate this, they also have facial recognition capabilities, conversation engines, and sensors for indoor navigation.
Balaji Vishwanathan, the startup's CEO, says he actually began with an attempt to make driverless vehicles. "Instead of a car we wanted to do it with a scooter, because they can get into all Indian streets. However, we saw the regulations and the technology itself was not fully ready, so we pivoted and began testing the technology indoors." After that, it was a short leap to add speech engines and more to make a fully functional robot helper.
Right now, Vishwanathan says the most common use is in malls and other retail spaces, where the bots can (with your consent) use personal data to help you find exactly what you want, and even remember your face for future visits. However, he also sees them expanding to other sectors.
"Three years from now, you could walk into a rural hospital and a robot will be greeting you," he says excitedly.
And that's just helpers we'll see around us, buth others like 16-year-old Saad Nasser are working on automated bots meant to be behind the scenes. Along with Saurabh Chandra, he's the co-founder of Ati Motors, the startup behind Sherpa.
Sherpa is a fully electric autonomous cargo vehicle. With three wheels, two in front and one in the rear, it's like a low-riding cart that drives itself. The idea is to implement the bot in warehouses, factories and other industrial settings.
"We wanted to do something that was both an interesting engineering problem and viable commercially," Nasser says.
According to Chandra, the idea behind building the Sherpa is to stay under the regulatory radar. But once the regulations catch up in the next five years he says, and automated vehicles are allowed on roads, they can easily scale up.
In the meantime, the Sherpa has two variants, one that supports 150 kg of weight, and another capable of moving 500 kg. And just like Mitra and Mitri, it's completely sourced and built in India.
What time to be alive!