Industrial Automation Magazine India

Re-skilling for the ability to integrate robotics into manufacturing is essential

Published on : Tuesday 05-04-2022

Jagannath Raju, Founder & CTO, Systemantics India Pvt Ltd.

We have been hearing about robots in the Indian Industry. What is the extent of penetration today? Which industry segments are the major users?
The metric to indicate the adoption of robotics in manufacturing has traditionally been the number of robots installed per number of workers but this does not take into account wide variation in labour costs across the globe. Studies looking at adoption on a wage-adjusted basis show that Southeast Asian countries have adopted robotics at much higher than expected levels, surprisingly, the US and Europe at lower than expected levels, and India at extremely lower than expected levels. Though this approach of measuring adoption normalises labour costs, it still uses the same capital cost of the robot across all geographies indicating that India could be lagging behind due to factors of affordability, access to and cost of capital and lack of policies that would promote skill sets useful for the adoption of robotics. Since all robotic arms installed in Indian industry are imported, concerns about support, services and spares could also be deterrent factors for MSMEs.
 
The automotive industry has been the dominant user of robotic arms, specifically higher tier level manufacturers, and primarily for welding and painting applications.
 
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?
The pandemic highlighted two pain points for industry – the dependence on migrant labour for low and semi-skilled jobs, and for MSMEs lack of a financial safety net for weathering a severe storm.
 
Fixed automation for extremely high scale production, typically FMCG sector, and not deployment of robots, which is a flexible automation approach for lower scale production, would have shielded some industries from a debilitating impact of the pandemic. The interest that peaked during the pandemic and has now subsided was the interest in mobile robotics for remote nursing, autonomous sanitisation, etc. There was a rush to deploy such robots both in healthcare, transportation and facility management, but has now taken a backseat with the decline of the severity of the pandemic. In short, the pandemic highlighted the necessity of robotics out of the traditional manufacturing domain.
 
I don’t foresee a rush but definitely a higher interest to be better prepared, but the basics of becoming safer and more efficient and productive, to gain a competitive edge will manifest itself as a significant increase in demand for robotics based automation.
 
Do recent policy initiatives like PLI scheme for electronics industry, Semiconductor manufacturing, large 2-wheeler EV plants, etc., augur well for robotic automation?
It will be very difficult to scale production to the levels envisaged under the PLI scheme without robotic automation. But there need to be complementary schemes supporting PLI which support robotic automation. Re-skilling for the ability to integrate robotics into manufacturing is essential and programs to promote this have been initiated. The missing component is promotion of indigenous design and development of the products related to robotic automation that would be candidates for manufacturing under PLI schemes. PLI schemes will support large organisations whereas innovation in design happens more in MSMEs which focus on technology development.
 
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 SIs with requisite experience and competence to deliver robotic solutions. The challenge for most of them has been the high cost of the robotic arm at the centre of the solution, which has made the solution unaffordable to the MSME sector. Customers will also demand well proven components in the design of the solution which forces the SIs to use only well established imported robots. Industry bodies and the government need to support domestic component manufacturers with financial assistance to cover testing and certification by standards labs to promote the use of indigenous components by SIs with full confidence of their quality. 
 
Globally, use of robotics in non-traditional sectors – food & beverages, hospitals & hospitality, sewage & waste segregation – is rising. What is the Indian scenario?
Much of the adoption of robotics in non-traditional sectors globally is driven by the high cost and shortage of labour. In the Indian scenario the adoption of robotics in the services sector will be driven more by the hostility of the workspace such as sewage, toxic waste, heat or other hazards to the worker. Essential services will see increasing demand for robotics based assistance and efficiency.
 
Is the Logistics & Warehousing industry spurring the demand for robots in this segment? Are there Indian players who are focussing on this segment?
The logistics and warehousing sector has grown exponentially in the last decade. The global giant Amazon acquired a Boston based robotics company Kiva in 2012 for $775 million and industry reports suggest that Amazon could have saved upwards of $2 billion in costs over the past decade with this single investment. All e-commerce players in India including Flipkart and Jio have great interest in reducing costs to become profitable in the long run and will need to make similar investments in robotics. Reliance has taken the first step with a strategic investment in Adverb Technologies based in Noida. GreyOrange Robotics was the first Indian startup in this space and now has a large customer base in the US. I expect we will see many more players in this space in the near future.
 
(The views expressed in interviews are personal, not necessarily of the organisations represented)
 
As its Chief Technical Officer, Jagannath Raju is responsible for Systemantics India’s product development and technology strategy. His consulting experience in the US covers the development of innovative robotic systems for space, underwater and hazardous applications for projects funded by NASA, Federal Sea Grant Program, Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.
 
His expertise covers many areas of technology relevant to robotic systems, viz., mechanical design, actuator and sensors, computer control, signal and power electronics and embedded and application software.
 
Jagannath is a B Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and holds a master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA, and master’s and doctoral degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.