Helping SMEs

There’s nothing unusual about the MSME factory floor near Chennai, just the scuff marks, the constant hum of machinery and the heat radiating from it—until you notice a custom-made robot arm toiling away alongside workers.
It is the brainchild of a father-son duo who run a small unit in the Irungattukottai Sipcot industrial estate to cope with recurring labour shortages. So, the robot arm is specific to the needs of small industrial units. The inventor: Abilash Chakaravarthy, who has a degree in mechanical engineering. He put in extra hours at his father’s factory to experiment with different tools, learnt programming and designing circuits and embedded devices. And spent Rs 4 crore on product development.
“The first year of development was very difficult, full of trial and error,” says Abilash, founder and CEO of robotics startup Ace Robotics.
His father, Dr S Rajasekaran, who owns an industrial unit and co-founded the startup, has experience in machine learning (ML, like AI) in machining, process control management and other industrial automation processes. He is also a member of various industrial and academic bodies.
Abilash initially deployed an early prototype of the robotic arm at his facility in 2017. He had no plans to sell it. However, after presenting the product at a machine tool exhibition, the reaction changed his mind.
Now, the company has two design patents and several more in the pipeline. It has a manufacturing facility in Ekkatuthangal, Chennai. And 90% of the components are made domestically. Only a few parts, such as servo motors and chips, are imported. It has tried to make servo motors, a part that provides precise control of angular or linear position, but could not manage the costs.
“The demand for robotic process automation is greater in small and medium-sized enterprises, but price remains a major constraint, and the lack of expertise puts many people off,” says Abilash.
Ace Robotics launched its commercial product in March 2023 and has started serving customers across the country, including Bengaluru, Pune, and Punjab. It currently offers robotic arms in payload categories of 3 kg, 6 kg, and 12 kg and is developing a 20 kg variant. It focuses on CNC and VMC machine operations for the automotive, aerospace, and consumer industries for pipeline assembly.
The startup plans to sell more than 100 units this year and is working on three or four products, including robots for cold and hot forging, injection molding applications, home cleaning robots and frying robots for commercial kitchens.
Ace Robotics sells custom-made products at a price of Rs 14.5-15 lakh, including the cost of the robot, installation, training and support, which it claims is cheaper than products from multinational companies.
The machines can be used for long periods of time without a break, even on Sundays, Abilash says. “While they can’t match human speed, they provide consistent performance, which can be more valuable. We’re focusing on automating areas with labor shortages and safety concerns,” he says.
The industrial robotics market in India is currently dominated by imports from Japan and Germany. But, says Abilash, the imported products are made for large industrial halls and are not suitable for space-constrained Indian industries, especially small ones. Their prices are also not suitable for SMEs, he says.