Robot-making company Milagrow HumanTech has registered a 15-20 per cent surge in demand for various categories of its cleaning robots since mid-April.

The company’s product range includes 20 different types of robots for activities including cleaning of floor, window, wall, swimming pool, lawn mowing, air-conditioner duct-cleaning and so on.

Milagrow’s founder, Rajeev Karwal, said that the demand for cleaning assistants came majorly from millennials. “They seem to want to gift the gadget to their parents to give some respite from all household cleaning work, as during lockdown 1.0 no maids were available for help.”

The decade-old company launched its first robot towards the end of 2011, he said, and pointed out that it was not easy in the initial years (to market the robot) as not many were prepared to invest in a new tech-gadget. “Now, people are hungry to invest in such tech-tools. The market is looking up,” he added.

Milagrow has deployed imap9 — a floor sanitising machine and disinfecting robot that navigates without human intervention — at various hospitals such as AIIMS, Fortis and Moolchand. “We have enquiries and orders for similar products for domestic use. The floor-cleaning robot is completely independent; the user can schedule, zoom and see the progress on his mobile,” said Karwal.

He added that the annual demand for floor-cleaning robots alone could reach 5,000 to 7,000 units. “We are expecting a ten-fold increase in demand for such robots in the next two to three years from educational institutions, healthcare industry and hospitality sector.”

Asked how he managed to cater to the market demand during the lockdown, he said, “Ors is a small team of 20 people. We stock components and assemble in modular fashion.”

The closely-held company has capacity to make 20,000 units in 2020. “Our installed base is (for) over 50,000. Last year we assembled over 7,000 robots.”

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