India’s First Quadruped Robot – By Svaya Robotics

India’s First Quadruped Robot

Blog Credit: Trupti Thakur

Image Courtesy: Google

Svaya Robotics unveils India’s first homegrown quadruped robot and exoskeleton

Svaya Robotics, a Hyderabad-based company, has partnered with two DRDO labs, the Research and Development Establishment in Pune (R&DE) and Defence Bio-engineering & Electro Medical Laboratory.

Dr. Sateesh Reddy, Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri (Minister of Defense) and former chairman, DRDO, has visited Svaya Robotics development facility in Hyderabad, along with other senior scientists of DRDO labs, DE and DEBEL today.

He reviewed the development of the robots that Svaya has undertaken with DRDO.

Dr. Sateesh Reddy said “We are extremely happy with the rapid progress that Svaya was able to achieve in a very short period. Industry partnerships like these are essential to accelerate development of advanced robotics and take them into field trials fast and also keep developing them for dual-use.

He opined that robotics would play a very important role in enabling Indian defense in both augmenting soldiers and providing unprecedented remote reconnaissance capabilities.

Welcoming the defense officials Vijay R Seelam, founder and Managing Director Svaya Robotics said, “We are happy to associate with DRDO as part of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat mission to make our country self-reliant. The quadruped robot indigenously developed by Svaya is made to navigate in unstructured terrains to provide remote reconnaissance and inspection for the defense and security forces which otherwise are not safe for humans to operate in.”

While the exo-skeleton, has been developed to augment soldiers in both walking long distances without fatigue or in lifting heavy loads without expending much effort. Both the robots have multiple use cases in Industry and healthcare also, he added.

Svaya Robotics, a Hyderabad-based company, has partnered with two DRDO labs, the Rese   arch and Development Establishment in Pune (R&DE) and Defence Bio-engineering & Electro Medical Laboratory in Bengaluru (DEBEL), to create India’s first quadruped robot and wearable exo-skeleton. The company has designed both robots to serve multiple purposes in industries and healthcare, and they are dual-use robots.

The exo-skeleton is specifically tailored to the anthropometry of Indian soldiers and aims to boost their physical strength, allowing them to walk long distances without fatigue and carry heavy loads with minimal effort. G. Satheesh Reddy, Scientific Adviser to the Union Defence Minister and former chairman of DRDO, and senior scientists from the two DRDO labs visited Svaya Robotics’ facility to review the progress of the project.

Quadruped robots:

They are four-legged robots that can walk or run on uneven and rough terrains.

The robots can carry 25 kg in payload and walk along with the soldier.

It is made for navigating in unstructured terrains to provide remote reconnaissance and inspection, which otherwise are not safe for humans to operate in.

Quadruped robots can mimic animal walking gait and they have certain advantages like walking on terrain and extremely rough surfaces. Obstacles can impede the movement of wheeled vehicles, where a quadruped can adapt to avoid obstacles by adjusting its height.

Quadruped is the position where both hands and knees are on the ground. It is the starting position of crawling that all children do. When young babies are learning to walk, quadruped helps them develop curves in their spine and core strength.

Exoskeleton:

It is developed to suit Indian soldiers’ anthropometry and augment soldier strength for walking long distances.

These active exoskeletons, when worn by soldiers, can carry heavy loads without expending much effort.