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Here comes a robot that moves on vertical surfaces, climbs windows and crawls over frames. It can walk on glass, clean the facade of high-rise skyscrapers and tackle hostile weather conditions.
The ‘Made in India’ robot developed by two students of BITS Pilani, Hyderabad, has won $450,000 investment prize at a global contest in the US. Ujjawal Aggarwal and Gokul Anandan gave shape to their idea in their spare time over the three years of their study at the campus. WCB Robotics, the entity, floated by the duo has won $300,000 from GOOSE Society of Texas and another $150,000 from TiE Houston Angel Group. In addition, it won the $5,000 People’s Choice competition sponsored by SoFi in the Rice Business Plan competition.
The make
They have fabricated the robot and integrated a suction system that helps it move freely. This, they claimed, is significant as the existing robots can clean single piece of glass and are pre-dominantly used to clean windows in residential areas. Some of them require ropes to work, Ujjawal said.
They benefited from ‘Sandbox’, the initiative of BITS to support innovative start-up ideas. The next challenge is to build a cleaning system into the robot to make it versatile, Ujjawal told BusinessLine . They tested the robot on campus at Hyderabad and have applied for patent, as well.
The Bitsians plan to undertake the further development work through the start-up. The prize won will meet most of the requirements and the work would most likely be done in Texas, where the investors are are based, Ujjawal said.
The competition is supported by more than 140 corporate and private sponsors. It is the world’s richest and largest graduate level student start-up competition at the Rice University held in April.
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