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The draft National Strategy on Robotics for public consultation has been released by the Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Rajeev Chandrasekhar. The government is seeking input from startups, manufacturing companies, and stakeholders involved in Industry 4.0.
According to the Minister, this aligns with the government’s plan to advance AI in the country. “I invite all those in the robotics and AI ecosystem to contribute and make this a successful policy,” he said. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is dedicated to realising the Prime Minister’s vision of nurturing and advancing cutting-edge technology applications within the nation.
Advances in AI are expected to have a significant impact in the realm of cyber-physical systems (CPS) such as robotics, which heavily depend on AI to facilitate the interaction between the virtual world and the components of physical systems. To fully harness the advantages of an AI-integrated society, the development of the National Strategy on Robotics has been envisioned as a pivotal component of the national umbrella programme, IndiaAI.
Underscoring the advantages of the strategy, the Minister emphasised that the national robotics strategy policy will offer substantial prospects for various sectors, including manufacturing, Industry 4.0, and cyber-physical systems, among others. It holds the potential to generate a significant impact.
The National Strategy on Robotics seeks to harness this potential and foster the growth of robotic technology, with the goal of positioning India as a global “Robotics Hub.” To bolster India’s leadership in the field of Robotics on a global scale, the strategy has identified four significant sectors: manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, and national security.
To facilitate India’s ascent as a global leader in the development and integration of robotics, the government will execute the National Strategy on Robotics in a comprehensive, unified, and efficient manner, under the banner of the ‘National Robotics Mission.’ This will involve the creation of the Robotics Innovation Unit (RIU), which will serve as an institutional framework within IndiaAI, dedicated to overseeing the execution of the National Strategy on Robotics. It will adopt a whole ecosystem approach. RIU has been proposed as an agile and fast responsive independent agency that will nurture the dynamic robotics startup, research, and innovation ecosystem in India.
Multiple interventions have been recommended across the key pillars of a robotics innovation cycle, including research and development, demonstration and testing, commercialisation and supply chain development, and adoption and awareness, to ensure the creation of domestic capabilities in robotic technology in India.
India has made notable progress in the realm of robotics, and this recognition extends globally, with both the public and private sectors acknowledging the significance of robotic automation in shaping future social, economic, and technological developments.
In the education sector, the government has been implementing robotic automation to improve the quality of learning. Recently, a school in Besant Nagar, Chennai deployed a buddy robot that offers capabilities beyond a study aid. The robot can sing, dance, play football with children, connect students and teachers across the globe, and even teach seven foreign languages.
As OpenGov Asia reported, the hands-free social robot can rotate its head from side to side and can look upward toward the operator, creating exchanges that are as tactile and immersive as human interactions. The robot can respond to an array of questions, spanning from factual data to study-related topics, demonstrating a remarkably intuitive understanding of human emotions and sentiments.
