This Diwali, residents of Gulmohar Garden Society in Jaipur woke up to humanoid robots sharing the festivities with them—lighting the firecrackers and sparklers and greeting residents. Designed by Jaipur-based startup Club First Robotics, these robots can effectively handle jobs like putting out a fire in an emergency or fixing a blocked sewer line in addition to maintenance of the apartment complex.
Madanmohan Pareek, president of the Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA), said, “We have a big society with more than 200 luxury villas. We come across several problems in drainage and decided to try the robots. We also have deployed robots in the club and cafeteria for cleaning and serving purposes.” The robots are currently being demonstrated, and a decision on whether to buy them will be taken at a meeting of the RWA, he added.
Unique Diwali celebrations
The robots that took part in Gulmohar Garden Society’s festivities included Xena 5.0 All Terrain Robot, Xena 6.0 Solar Manhole Cleaning Robot, Sona 3.5 AI Humanoid Robot and Sona 2.5 Service Robot Men. Sona 2.5 manned the food service at the cafeteria while Sona 3.5 registered complaints, gave feedback and responded to society-related queries.
Bhuvnesh Mishra, managing director (MD) of Club First Robotics, told Moneycontrol, “We started in 2019, and deployed about 72 robots during the COVID pandemic. Today we have deployed more than 160 robots across India for commercial purposes. This is the first time we are deploying them in a housing society.”
Mishra said among the most sought-after robots are the ones that can clean manholes and sewer lines. “We have the firefighting robot that can help extinguish fires inside the apartment buildings and help in the rescue.
Robots can also help in security surveillance and also tow cars parked in the wrong places inside the complex. We also have a robot that can help in gardening and service robots for community halls and common areas,” he added.
For this Diwali, Xena 5.0 performed the guard’s duties during the festivities, activated the firefighting system, watered the garden and conducted video surveillance. It also manned the parking area and signalled to remove vehicles parked incorrectly. Xena 6.0 cleaned the drainage systems and manholes. The solar-powered robot has a gas detection alert and GPS.
Robots can cut down costs
To date, the company has manufactured about 170 robots that work extensively with state governments and municipal corporations. “However, now we are looking at housing societies. Deploying the robots can save up to Rs 1.8 lakh each month in maintenance and servicing,” Mishra added.
The company said the robots start from Rs 4 lakh and go up to Rs 30 lakh or even Rs 1 crore in some cases. “The manhole cleaning robots cost around Rs 31.5 lakhs and the firefighting robots cost Rs 1 crore. However, these robots are deployed only when a mishap occurs and not deployed permanently,” Mishra added.
The company said they are expanding further across southern India, including Bengaluru and a few cities in Telangana. “The robotics sector in India is booming. In the future, we will see more robots working with humans across industries in the country. We have a manufacturing unit in Jaipur itself and all robots are made in India,” Mishra concluded.
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