Agri robots to eye for lunar rovers: Indian deep tech startups come of age

The key to their cutting-edge innovations can be attributed to the rise of emerging technologies including AI, big data, and the Internet of Things (IoT) and their accelerated adoption across sectors

Chandrayaan-3, India's third moon mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), successfully executed a soft landing on the moon on August 23, 2023. This achievement made the country the fourth nation globally to achieve a successful lunar landing. India also marked a milestone by becoming the first country to land near the South Pole, an area believed to harbor significant amounts of water ice. This resource could potentially be mined for rocket fuel and life support in future crewed missions. Pragyan, the lunar rover integral to Chandrayaan-3, aimed to conduct in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during its mobility. As the Pragyan rover traversed the moon, its vision to navigate the crater-filled lunar surface was powered by software developed by Noida-based tech startup Omnipresent Robot Technologies.

Omnipresent is among thousands of deep-tech companies developing cutting-edge innovations to address critical problems. These innovations span from navigation software for lunar rovers and robots for precision agriculture to using artificial intelligence for early disease detection and drug discovery.

The Indian deep tech startup ecosystem has matured, with over 3,000 companies experiencing a 53% CAGR growth over the last 10 years, according to a Nasscom report, the apex body for India's $245 billion technology industry. The key to their growth and innovations can be attributed to the rise of emerging technologies, including AI, big data, and the Internet of Things (IoT), and their accelerated adoption across sectors.

“Unlike the earlier generation of tech companies, which attracted a lot of limelight, these companies are operating quietly and solving some of the deepest problems,” said Ramkumar Narayanan, chairperson of Nasscom's DeepTech Council and vice president of technology and managing director VMware India.

Omnipresent has closely collaborated with ISRO for the Chandrayaan series of lunar missions. Its ‘perception navigation software’ assisted in capturing images of the moon using the lunar rover's two cameras and stitching them together to generate a 3-D map of the lunar landscape.

“Our technological prowess extends to space, as evidenced by our contribution to the Chandrayaan mission through the design of the Pragyan rover’s software,” said Aakash Sinha, founder and chief executive officer, Omnipresent.

Utilizing deep tech, Omnipresent is also developing advanced drone-based solutions for surveying, mapping, agricultural diagnostics, and defense applications. The firm is set to supply 60 cutting-edge drones to the government, enhancing agricultural efficiency and productivity. It has successfully completed army trials for mini UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) designed for high-altitude operations.

“Over 10,000 villages in India have been mapped using our drones,” said Sinha.

Agricultural Robots

Facing challenges like climate change, declining profitability in agriculture, lack of labor, and an increasing population, there is a dire need to increase agricultural output sustainably. Addressing this, Bengaluru-based Niqo Robotics is banking on spot spray robots in the agricultural industry. Established in 2015 by Jaisimha Rao, Niqo is building agricultural robots with high-precision AI-powered vision and sensors.

The idea originated in 2014 when Rao visited a coffee estate in Karnataka, India. During the visit, a conversation with one of the coffee farmers opened his eyes to the realities of farming. He quickly learned that food-growing practices in India were largely manual. Also, critical input decisions were made based on wisdom and not scientific data. After 8 years of extensive research, Niqo Robotics successfully blended creativity and frugal engineering to build and ship Asia’s largest fleet of spot spray robots.

Spot spraying is a smart way of using chemicals on only the target plant without wastefully spraying everywhere. It also limits the environmental impact of excessive spraying on soil and preserves its nutrition. This helps farmers save up to 60% in pesticide spraying costs. Over 1600 farmers across Akola (Maharashtra), Guntur (Andhra Pradesh), and Khammam (Telangana) have used the spray robot for seasonal spraying in cotton and chili crops.

The whole process is highly time-sensitive and needs to happen within 30 milliseconds for spot spray to be successful. Since farmlands are often in places with unreliable or no internet access, all computing needs to be done on the edge without dependency on the cloud.

“By using deep tech tools, we have built a spot spray robot that can use AI to make real-time decisions on the farm,” said Jaisimha Rao, founder and chief executive officer, Niqo Robotics.

Besides spraying, Rao said the firm is planning to build robotics solutions in all phases of farming like sowing and harvesting. This would be indigenously developed, frugally engineered, and rigorously tested AI robots. “While we continue to scale India spraying operations, we are also looking to enter global markets as early as next year,” said Rao.

AI to Detect Diseases

Deep tech companies are also focusing on providing efficient assistance in early disease detection customized for low-resource settings. Chennai-based Adiuvo Diagnostics has designed an innovative imaging device that can capture multispectral autofluorescence images. By utilizing AI on the spectral images obtained, this technology can assist in quick, label-free diagnostics. The company said this technology has various applications, ranging from detecting pathogens to evaluating skin parameters and diagnosing cancer.

“We've pioneered a novel approach, transcending traditional diagnostics, to detect and classify bacteria and fungus without the need for samples or external labeling,” said Geethanjali Radhakrishnan, founder and managing director, Adiuvo Diagnostics. “Harnessing the power of light, we illuminate bacteria, leveraging its natural fluorescence.”

The firm said the integration of AI mitigates background noise and enhances classification accuracy through a vast image database. Radhakrishnan said this innovation finds its purpose in addressing global challenges, specifically in the acute, chronic, and traumatic wound market, impacting 600 million individuals.

“Our flagship product, Illuminate, has yielded remarkable results, and we have screened over 10,000 patients since our launch last year,” said Radhakrishnan. “The solution has 92% accuracy and has prevented unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions and has improved wound healing rates.”

Another critical challenge that deep tech companies are addressing is traditional drug discovery. This is because it includes lengthy timelines, high costs, and failure rates. Hyderabad-based Centella AI Therapeutics' goal is to address this. It is using AI to accelerate timelines, reduce costs, improve success rates, and enable comprehensive data analysis. This way, it is transforming drug discovery into a more efficient, effective, and objective endeavor. The company said its easy-to-use and intelligent platform empowers drug hunters to leverage advanced tools without coding expertise. This digital transformation could result in cost reductions of up to 60%, coupled with a streamlined discovery timeline accelerated by approximately 25-45%. This not only brings efficiency but also enhances safety and efficacy while reducing the toxicity of drug-like candidates. The firm said this is paving the way for safer, faster, and more affordable drug candidates.

“AI drug discovery represents a $50 billion opportunity for pharmaceutical, biotech, and life sciences companies of all sizes,” said Dr.Riyaz Syed, founder and chief scientific officer, Centella. He said this market addresses significant unmet medical needs, particularly in rare diseases like cardiovascular and neuro diseases, as well as the discovery of new antibiotics and antiretrovirals.

Narayanan of Nasscom said that as India starts to grow in terms of its own ambitions and areas of focus, deep tech would play a key role across verticals such as health tech, climate tech, agri-tech, and energy and mobility sectors.

“By 2030, we hope to see at least 10,000 deep-tech startups from India,” said Narayanan. “I think many of them would be world-recognized in their spaces.”