Meet the Chennai boys building UGVs for the Indian Army

Chennai-based start-up Torus Robotics is manufacturing Unmanned Ground Vehicles to help ferry heavy loads for the Indian Army

“You think of ‘unmanned’, and you think of drones, in the sky,” says 25-year-old Vibhakar Senthil. In Ambattur — widely regarded as the Detroit of India — his start-up Torus Robotics is set to change that, by making Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) for the Indian Army.

At the Aero India 2021 in Bengaluru, attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Torus Robotics signed an MOU with the Government, on the joint development of UGVs for the armed forces with BEML Limited.

“With BEML, we are now developing a high-altitude Logistics UGV with 750 kilograms payload. It will be an all-terrain vehicle to supply to and from bases [without the need of human presence] in bad weather conditions, for the Northern Command,” says Vibhakar.

At university in SRM, Kattankulathur, Chennai, Vibhakar, with his classmates, M Vignesh and K Abbhi Vignesh, spent time researching the robotics industry in India. A combination of patriotism — Vibhakar says he had hoped to join the Indian Army once — and passion for robotics, led them to focus on the defence sector.

“We researched the issues our jawans faced during border patrol because of infiltration, heavy burden, high altitudes and lack of oxygen, and the corresponding mental health issues. We were wondering if robotics could solve that issue of logistics,” says Vibhakar, adding, “The idea is not to replace jawans, but to aid them.”

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the Aero India 2021 in Bengaluru, with Torus Robotics

When Torus Robotics was officially established in 2019, it was with the help of someone who knew the in and out of the armed forces. Lieutenant General CA Krishnan (retired) mentored the three on the needs of the sector. “He was in the Army Design Bureau (that helps research organisations and start-ups, address the unique issues faced by front-line forces in the Indian Army), and we will be officially incorporating him in the company in June,” Vibhakar adds.

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