India-made robot Tata Brabo all set for big debut at ongoing 'Make In India' week

India's indigenous robot is all set for a bug debut at the ongoing 'Make in India' week in Mumbai.

A Tata Motors innovation, Brabo has been developed in-house by a team of six engineers whose average age is 24 years, led by Bhingurde. The development cost is Rs 10 crore.

"These are made in India, made for India. The idea is to drive automation in the market by offering affordable and cost-effective solution," says Anil Bhingurde, chief operating officer of TAL Manufacturing Solutions of Tata Motors.

The design of the robot was done in-house at TAL, styling was done at Tata Elxi, and manufacturing of some parts at Tata AutoComp, while Tata Capital provided the finance.

TAL Manufacturing doesn't intend to compete with global biggies such as Fanuc, ABB and Kuka's, but instead plans to target the micro, small and medium entreprises with an affordable robotic solution starting at Rs 3 lakh (for 2 kg) to Rs 6 lakh (for a 10 kg payload). There are over 5,000 products being manufactured by India's small enterprises -from traditional business to high-tech products, which may need such robots. The Rs 9-lakh crore MSME industry is likely to double in the coming years, and to reach that kind of size and scale, automation will play a big role, an opportunity that TAL Manufacturing Solutions doesn't want to slip up on.

There's a market of approximately 1,000 big robots in India annually, according to International Federation of Robotics, and from next year, the demand will be 5,000 robots, globally. Thanks to the creation of a new entry point, the market is likely to grow 10 times in five years to 15,000, says Bhingurde.

Although Nachi, Panasonic and Universal have started showcasing smaller robots in India, Brabo enjoys a significant 35-40% cost advantage due to its localised offering.

(Image credits: BCCL)