Can Perceptyne’s Robot Army Become The New Growth Engine For ‘Make In India’?

When you hear the word robot, what comes to your mind first? The T-800, Chappie, or perhaps Wall-E? Well, what if we tell you that the seeds of these fictional characters (all robots capable of doing human-like jobs) are being sown right now as we move one step closer to a future dominated by more versatile general-purpose robots.

Raviteja Chivukula, a budding entrepreneur in India’s robotics space and the founder of Perceptyne Robots, too, is convinced that AI-driven, general-purpose robotic automation is the only way forward, a belief that led to the incorporation of this robotics startup in 2021. 

Now, before we delve into the inception story of Hyderabad-based Perceptyne Robots, which develops dexterous robots, we need to understand that globally, advancements in AI and robotics, in tandem with rising industrial automation demands, have accelerated research in making robots more human-like. 

This is precisely what Chivukula is trying to do — create an army of T-800 (pun intended) that can replicate human-like precision needed to grasp, manipulate and perform intricate tasks across industrial functions. 

However, he is not alone in this game. 

From academic researchers at institutions like UC Berkeley and Columbia University to leading tech innovators and entrepreneurs like Elon Musk are striving to create robots capable of performing tasks that require high human-like dexterity. 

For example, while today’s robots excel at simpler tasks like serving food, they still struggle with more complex actions like preparing a sandwich or tying shoelaces. Hence, dexterity in robots has been a major missing piece in the puzzle that technology innovators are trying to solve. 

Chivukula, too, has miles to walk before he can deliver a robot capable of household chores or curing destitution. While the entire plot around T-800s, Chappies or Wall-Es seems futuristic, the founder claims to be reaching there bit by bit.    

As of now, Chivukula’s startup Perceptyne Robots is focussed on making semi-humanoid robotic arms that are equipped with tactile sensors and AI-driven no-code trainability. With this stack, the robotics startup is looking to disrupt sectors like electronics and automotive manufacturing, and eventually establish dominion over ecommerce and food sectors.

The Birth Of Perceptyne Robots

While Chivukula, along with Jagga Raju Nadimpalli and Mrutyunjaya Sastry, founded Perceptyne in 2021, the seeds of the idea were sown almost a decade ago when he was an intern at a company that developed vending machines.

“At the time, vending machines used to be bulky and required customised mechanisms to dispense different items like a packet of chips, biscuits, and tetra packs. This made me wonder if I could develop an intelligent minion with arms, fingers, and vision sitting in the vending machine to pick any product and dispense it,” he said, adding that the thought stuck with him.

This sparked his fixation on developing a mechanism both robust and scalable, not just for vending machines but for full-fledged assembly lines.

Fates intervened and Chivukula crossed paths with Sastry and Nadimpalli, both bringing decades of experience in automotive, manufacturing, and automation. When the trio sat down to discuss the future of general-purpose robots, they realised that automation across industries was operating behind barriers that had to be broken by robots capable of handling complex tasks with human-like precision.

Around 2020, their vision that the future will be all about general-purpose robotic arms crystallised further. This was also the time when the founders were seeing the growing significance of AI across sectors. Armed with a common vision, purpose, talent and AI, the trio incorporated Perceptyne. However, the operations only began in 2022. 

Currently, the startup has two flagship products – a single-arm robot named PR-9D and a dual-arm robot named PR-34D. 

The prototypes of these robots are currently ready and the startup is in talks with various MNCs in the electronics manufacturing and automotive space for pilots. Perceptyne recently raised $3 Mn From Endiya Partners, Yali Capital, Whiteboard Capital, and a few other angel investors.  

What’s Special About Perceptyne’s Robots

Chivukula keeps robots developed by Perceptyne somewhere in the middle of superhumanoid robots and extremely unintelligent robots.

Unlike industrial robots built by the likes of ABB, Yaskawa Motoman, and a few others, which can move from one point to another performing only a particular set of tasks, Chivukula claims to have built robotics arms that are highly intelligent and capable of performing varied tasks – from assembling torchlight and headlight to automotive brake assembly and mobile phone assembly. 

This capability is backed by Perceptyne’s software, which comes with no-code programming capabilities and is developed in-house using some of NVIDIA’s foundational models in computer vision. 

The startup also designs most of the hardware components in-house, including motor controllers and gearboxes that are not generic to the robotics industry but can be separately used across sectors like automotive and biomedical. 

However, Perceptyne is not focussing on use cases requiring locomotion, as the founder believes the space is already well-covered by other solutions. Instead, the startup is targeting disruption in sectors like automotive and manufacturing, where workers typically remain stationary while performing manual assembly tasks.

How Perceptyne Plans To Forge Ahead 

Currently, the startup sees a significant market opportunity for its robots in the US due to the labour shortage in the country and growing traction towards innovation. However, Perceptyne will physically expand to the US market after a year, post the deployment of at least four to five robots in India.

Besides, in the coming years, the startup plans to deploy its products in ecommerce warehouses and food industry plants to automate activities that are still manual, such as packaging.

While the market opportunity is significant and Perceptyne is building its businesses with a strong set of goals and a deep understanding of the ecosystem, the increasing competition from global leaders could be a concern for the startup going ahead. Its product cost will also play a key role in deciding its fate. 

With such recent instances and players like Musk in the field, Perceptyne’s growth would be interesting to watch on whether it could take a piece of the pie in the industrial robots market that is expected to surpass $29 Bn in size by 2029 from about $17 Bn in 2024.

[Edited By Shishir Parasher]

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