Chennai-based start-up to help develop AI-based UGV

CHENNAI: Indian Army jawans stationed at the high altitudes may now heave a sigh of relief as a Chennai-based start-up-initiated by three engineering graduates has tied up with BEML- for joint development of Artificial intelligence (AI) based indigenous unmanned ground vehicle (UGV).

The co-founders- Vibhakar Senthil, Vignesh M and Abbhi Vignesh K are mechatronics engineers with a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degree. “The product we are going to develop is 750Kg UGV, which can be used in extreme weather and terrain conditions. It is autonomous and can be used for logistics and surveillance by the armed forces,” said Vibhakar, one of the co-founders of the start-up Torus Robotic Pvt Ltd.

The SRM University graduates have experience in working with projects of Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO). They had initially received help from Army Design Bureau. “We did a proper research work on what our jawans want before embarking on the product development,” says Vibhakar. Usually, a jawan at high altitude has to carry more than 60kg of equipment, which is extremely difficult.  This unmanned ground vehicle will now carry the load being carried out by 10 jawans. Not only that it will also provide them with power through the UGV battery, added Vibhakar.

“The product is expected to be launched by the end of this year. And the production can begin by 2023,” says Vibhakar. It is learnt that the trio is planning to set up a factory at Ambattur in Chennai in March this year. They are keen to tap the electric vehicles market also. “The electric motor which we developed for UGV is the most efficient one and we are trying to tap the electric vehicle market too,” said Vibhakar.

The use of UGVs, which are state-of-the-art robots, has acquired a greater significance in counter-insurgency, urban- as well as jungle-warfare situations for varied tasks, including surveillance and reconnaissance operations and safe handling and disposal of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).