India has a great opportunity to become a design-and-build robotics centre for cost-sensitive, high-variable businesses. There are strong engineering resources available to design solutions, along with system integration expertise and experience in working under a complex operating environment. As long as India continues to deliver real solutions that solve real problems and not simply build prototypes, it will be able to participate in the global community.
“We view humanoids internally not as an alternative to traditional robots or cobots, but as a bridge,” explains Bir Singh, co-founder & chief business officer, Addverb, a full-spectrum robotics player with a growing global footprint. “While traditional robots are designed to perform fixed and repetitive tasks and cobots work alongside people in a structured way, humanoids are designed for unstructured, human-oriented environments, where layouts will change, tasks will differ, and the ability to adjust is essential. Their primary function is to adjust to existing infrastructure rather than requiring factories or warehouses to adjust to the robot”. Addverb has unveiled Elixis-W as a ‘Made-in-India’ wheeled humanoid designed specifically for industrial use.
Today’s automated systems are usually highly effective, but they are narrow in scope. “We observe a gap where certain activities are located between completely manual work and fully automated work,” adds Singh. “We see this gap more clearly when examining repetitive but variable activities or transient tasks. The Elixis-W solution bridges this gap through providing mobility, intelligent decision-making and dexterity all in one system, therefore enabling operators to automate processes with no need to redesign their facility. Timing is right for Elixis-W given the level of technology maturity and operational preparedness in both native and globally located Indian facilities”. Singh describes Elixis-W as a step towards making Physical AI practical on the shopfloor.
In simple operational terms, what changes for a factory or warehouse operator with the introduction of Physical AI? Operators are moving up the automation curve from traditional programming functions (programming) towards functionality (outcomes) assignment. Autonomous machines (such as AI using physical robots) are able to perceive their surroundings, make decisions based on that context and adapt to changes. “So, if you are an operator, you will have less downtime when changing products, you will deploy your systems faster and have increased flexibility to deal with variations in how products are produced without needing to reconfigure everything or get technical support,” explains Singh.
The challenge
Elixis-W combines cognition, mobility and dexterity. “The biggest challenge has been creating cognitive systems that work reliably in industrial environments,” affirms Singh. “Industrial settings, such as factories or warehouses, present many challenges; they are noisy, fast-changing and unpredictable. To create systems capable of consistently perceiving their environment, making safe decisions and performing in the same way again and again – all while meeting safety and uptime expectations – requires an extensive integration of sensors, computers and controls. Achieving this balance takes time, discipline and engineering effort.”
Addverb has evolved from being a warehouse automation company initially. “Its evolution into a full-spectrum robotics player has developed naturally over time, without a deliberate thrust to reposition,” points out Singh. “Customers’ needs have expanded from storage and retrieval to now include aspects of movement, handling and finally autonomous solutions. Our push for these evolutions has come primarily from the requirements of our customers as well as the depth of research and development conducted internally at our organisation, and less so from any elements of how the market might define the company. Each incremental step of this evolution has been built on our prior understanding of real-world business operations”.
What has tangibly changed the most is confidence and competence. Supply chains are more localised, customers are more amenable to indigenous solutions and long-term investments in R&D and manufacturing are more realistic.
Internationally, the US is strong in core technologies, China in scale and rapid manufacturing, while India is into application-driven engineering. At their core, each has a unique advantage. “India is more practical, each ecosystem is valuable, and we expect we will differentiate and work together in the next phase,” sums up Singh.