Industrial Automation Magazine India

Automotive has traditionally been the biggest user of robots

Published on : Tuesday 05-04-2022

Hari Nidamarthy, Founder and CEO of APEXIZ.

We have been hearing about robots in the Indian Industry. What is the extent of penetration today? Which industry segments are the major users?
Automotive has traditionally been the biggest user of robots in applications like welding, cutting, painting, and handling jobs. In recent years, robots have penetrated into other industries such as mobile robots such as AMRs in warehousing, high-speed picking delta robots in food, beverage, and pharmaceuticals industries, collaborative robots in application areas where humans and robots work together.
 
What lessons are learnt out of the pandemic situation for deployment of robots? What case-study/examples of industries weathering the storm because of having deployed robots? Do you foresee a rush to deploy robots post-Covid?
Deploying robots because of the pandemic is just an ad-hoc solution. Though we all agree that the dependency on manual labour needs to be reduced, this long-term planning. The industry should be supported by skilled workers. To train the people who can work with robots, the initiative should start from the education sector, i.e., college/university/skill development centres.
 
Are the capabilities of system integrators to design and deploy robots strong enough? What initiatives from industry bodies and government are needed?
There are many system integrators in India doing very challenging applications in robotics.
 
Globally, use of robotics in non-traditional sectors – food & beverages, hospitals & hospitality, sewage & waste segregation – is rising. What is the Indian scenario?
There have been discussions about possibilities of reducing the dependency on manual labour. We can expect an immediate effect in robot usage in industry verticals such as FMCG, Warehousing, packaging. In the food and beverage industry also, mobile robots are being used in the transfer of material.
 
Is the Logistics & Warehousing industry spurring the demand for robots in this segment? Are there Indian players who are focussing on this segment?
There is an increased demand for mobile robots in warehousing and intralogistics operations. With new self-navigating mobile robots, more companies are looking at solutions based on AMRs. There are software and service providers in India like us who can help the companies to plan this transition.
 
(The views expressed in interviews are personal, not necessarily of the organisations represented)
Hari Nidamarthy is the Founder and CEO of APEXIZ, based in Hyderabad. He has 15 years of experience in 3D plant simulation, virtual manufacturing, and robot offline programming. Before starting APEXIZ in 2016, Hari worked in Sweden for nine years in the Industrial Automation domain. Connect with Hari through LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nidamarthy/.
 
APEXIZ is an engineering company offering products and services in 3D plant simulation and offline programming. APEXIZ is the partner of Visual Components and Delfoi, both Finland-based companies and the authorized distributor of their products. APEXIZ has customers in China, South Africa, Israel, Singapore, and many European countries.