NEW DELHI: From putting tiles in your house and painting walls to helping film producers shoot dangerous scenes in bollywood - ‘Co-bots’ - human assisted robots, are entering the Indian market. The textile industry in Surat, top IITs and electronics manufacturers have all begun purchasing them.
Cobots are already helping the Real Estate sector in Singapore to enhance the quality of construction. In India, a few real estate firms are already in discussion with companies like Universal Robots.
“Co-bots or collaborative robots work along human workers and help them with a variety of tasks. Since they are affordable and plug-and-play, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are eager to adopt this technology in India,” says Pradeep S D PE, India representative of Bengaluru-based firm Universal Robots.
The global collaborative robots market is estimated to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 50.88 percent to 2019, according to TechNavio, a British market research firm. Firms like Universal Robots are expanding business in South Asian countries. In India, they are emerging as a major player to help companies like TVS and Bajaj produce better quality two wheelers. Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industries, along with Real Estate, Textiles and automobiles, are adopting the technology.
Pradeep says as against the popular belief that Co-bots take away human jobs, there are instance in India where jobs were created. “Oro Labs, the contact lens makers in Madurai, installed Cobots to meet growing demand. But, they had to push for more jobs (sales executives, logistics people to be employed and also in ancillary services like transportation) that only humans can do,” says Pradeep.
The cost of purchasing a cobot for SMEs is still prohibitive at Rs 15-25 Lakh, but the company is confident that it will come down, with fasters adoption by real estate and FMCG sectors.