Taking a robot-ride

What if Fahad Azad could not fly fighter jets for the Indian Air Force? He’s smart enough to make and use robots that have the potential to match the speed and precision of those flying machines in their own space.

Yes, once heartbroken after failing to clear the National Cadet Council test, Azad is now a happy man as he has succeeded in realising his second passion: robotics.

Reminisces Azad, the 26-year-old managing director of Robosoft Systems, “I was in the 12th standard when I came to know about the robotics competition held by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay. But then I was too young to participate in it.”

However, Azad’s unwavering determination to make a mark in the field of robotics took him to many competition in later years.

It was in one of those competitions where Azad ran into Syed Ross Farooq, the co-founder of Robosoft Systems, who also had a failed dream of becoming a fighter pilot. “Farooq was my senior and both of us would participate in robotics competitions. But we never thought of working together until 2008,” says Azad.

In 2004, Azad won the robotics competition at IIT-B and things took a different turn for him from then on. After this victory, the Indian franchise of Dubai-based EPSCO contacted him and asked if he could develop robots for duct-cleaning as importing them was an expensive affair. “They liked what I did and bought five machines,” says a beaming Azad, adding that EPSCO later asked him to refine the product further. This order gave him an opportunity to attend a programme by National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA).

“From then on, I kept consulting and conducting workshops. In 2006, I joined Thinklabs — a robotic firm. In the meantime, Farooq was focussing on embedded systems and DLSI. So, in the beginning of 2008, we decided to come together and work,” says Azad.

In the initial few months, they focused on product development at Robosoft. But they soon realised that this required a huge capital and for that they entered the education segment. “We were working with EPSCO. While our margins were higher in the enterprise segment, we needed capital on a day-to-day basis,” he adds.

Even today, workshops account for about 80 per cent of Robosoft’s revenues, while the rest 20 per cent come from the enterprise segment. In the first year of its operations, Robosoft had had sales of Rs 50 lakh by catering to over 5,000 schools and engineering colleges, and through the duct-cleaning robot business. For this fiscal, Robosoft is expecting a revenue of Rs 1 crore.

So far the founders have not taken any financial help from anyone. “They have put in Rs 25 lakh and most of that has come from the prize money that they had got from winning several competitions. In fact, Farooq arranged the capital by selling his equity in an earlier start-up and by setting aside a small portion of the revenues generated through EPSCO,” says Saptarishi Chatterjee, head, alliance and marketing communication, Robosoft.

In the enterprise segment, Robosoft already has three major clients: EPSCO, Blue Star and German Star. “There are some queries from firms in Italy and Spain,” adds Azad.

One of the reasons why Robosoft is getting orders and enquiries is the cost of these robots. “We have been able to provide the same quality and services as that of other global players at one-fourth of the international price. Duct-cleaning robots cost anywhere between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 6 lakh in the international market, but we provide them for as low as Rs 75,000-Rs 1 lakh,” says Azad with pride.

Going ahead, the Robosoft will focus on three business aspects — duct-cleaning, retail space and component supply. “At present, our duct robots conduct only inspection and do not carry out physical cleaning. We are planing to get into this and be an end-to-end solution providers,” adds Chatterjee.