Gridbots: Robotics For Effeciency and Accuracy

Team Gridbots;

Credits: YourStory

In earlier articles on robotics, we have discussed how the industry is (very predictably) going to be the future. The industry is growing at an exponential scale. However, this is not only true for western countries but startups in India too.

Multiple companies are now venturing into the foray of robotics and applying it through different perspectives. While the layman’s understanding of robotics may only be through mechanics or humanoid looking things moving around, robotics is so much more. It can be very obvious or it can be inconspicuous. In this series, we shall be discovering startups in the country that are looking at Robotics through different niches and are on their way to creating successful companies.

This time we will be looking at a company that goes by the name Gridbots.

What Is Gridbots?

Gridbots picks two subsets of robotics and works with those- Artifical Intelligence and Machine Vision. Those familiar with the robotics industry will know that machine learning and artificial intelligence are two sub-industries that are thriving under robotics. And Gridbots has found its calling in these sub-industries. But what does the company exactly do?

Gridbots as a company wants to make the advantages robotics has and make it a part of everyone’s daily life. They are in the business of identifying jobs that are currently done manually and replace them with more efficient robots.

Before we take a look at what the company does or makes, let us take a look at the start of the company and the founders.

The Beginning:

Gridbots was founded in August of 2007 by Pulkit Gaur. This was fairly before robotics had entered into mainstream startup culture or consideration.

He was a student of engineering from Jaipur, dabbling in various aspects of the field at a graduate and postgraduate level. His curiosity knew no bounds and because of his constant experiments and creations in engineering, he was awarded Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Young Creator of the Year Award in 2012.

Gaur is said to have founded this company out of pure love for the industry. He wanted to build useful products that are run by intelligence and not just instructions.

The Products

Gridbots operates in a number of various sectors. There are 5 major industries for which the company makes specialized robots:

1. Defence and Homeland
2. Space Robots
3. Nuclear Robots
4. Power Plant Robots
5. Underwater Robotics

You may see a pattern. All of these industries involve high energy or high-risk material which can endanger human working conditions. They also require a terribly accurate application- something that humans are not very capable of. Robotics becomes a gift in these high-pressure industries.

Let us take a little bit of a dive into what kind of products this company makes by taking a look at some examples. This will give us an insight into what they mean when they say “robots” and how they operate in the above industries. Some of its products include:

• 1. The Sleuth Hound

Industry: Defence and Homeland

What It Does: The Sleuth Hound is 360 pan-tilt-automatic tracking camera that can be used in the defence industry for security reasons. It can withstand harsh environments and is more durable than regular CCTV camera which makes it an optimum choice in high-risk, combat settings.

• 2. The Hexamove

Industry: Space Robotics

What It Does: The Hexamove is a positioning system. To put it simply it can help position and repair machines in space that require a high level of positioning accuracy. The job of repairing space machinery is extremely difficult as it requires the job to be done in the quickest manner but with no room for error.  The Hexamove with its 6 degrees-of-freedom movement and an accuracy of 50 microns. This makes it a robot that is doing a job that a human cannot accomplish with the same level of accuracy and efficiency.

• 3. The Nu Crawler

Industry: Nuclear Robotics

What It Does: Nuclear material is extremely dangerous when directly dealt with by humans. Extreme precautionary measures need to be taken to ensure that a person is not affected by the radiation which is why replacing them with robots is the next big solution. Which is where the Nu  Crawler comes in.  This machine can climb completely vertical and inclined surfaces and detect faults in machinery or be used for regular inspection. It can point out faults in the welding work or any other errors in the machine. This robot can access parts of a machine that just cannot be inspected manually.

• 4. The Gridbots Stinger

Industry: Power Plants

What It Does: This is a miniature robot that can perform checks and inspect space that is anywhere between 150mm to 5000mm large. It can carry payloads inside hard-to-access pipelines which can help rectify clogs, blockages, or rectify errors. The robot is also waterproof and equipped with cameras so the person in charge can assess the situation remotely if needed while the robot is on the actual site. In a hazardous power plant environment, these robots can secure human lives. There are also autonomous modes available on the robot.

Revenue and Growth:

The initial operations for Gridbots have kicked into through funding of Rs. 10 lakh from the Union Government’s Science and Technology Department.

Because of Gridbots’ inventive offering of products it now holds tenders in various Public Sector Units. The company supplies and earns its revenue from various industry deals and sales. Clients of Gridbots include the Indian Navy, ONCG and the Institute of plasma research. Small and medium enterprise sector also take a sizeable chunk of the Gridbots revenue section.

Growth and The Future:

The company is now 72 members strong and has offices in cities like Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Delhi and Bangalore. Since its first funding from the Union Government, the company has been on its own, operating on revenues. Gridbots has an estimated annual revenue of $2.6 million USD and the graph is only predicted to go upwards.

Source URL: https://techstory.in/robotics-gridbots-tech-story/ (Accessed on 11 Marchm 2019)