A pet project of the Indian Army, four-legged robotic prototypes have been making waves at the Republic Day and Army Day parades in the past year.
If you are curious to see how robotic dogs, also referred to as mules, work, just head to India Pavilion at Aero India 2025, till February 14 at the Yelahanka Air Force Station, Bengaluru.
A pet project of the Indian Army, four-legged robotic prototypes have been making waves at the Republic Day and Army Day parades in the past year.
One of the handful of companies that have been exploring that space is a veteran-run Delhi-based defence startup, Deftech & GreenIndia Private Limited (DGPL).
DGPL's robotic dog/mule, Trakr, a quadruped robot that could manoeuvre through various terrains is participating at the Aero Show 2025.
"We got lucky because we got a direct invitation as we won the Innovation for Defence Excellence challenge in 2023 (launched by Prime Minister Modi in 2018 to foster innovation and technology development in defence and aerospace)," said Wing Commander Anshul Jain (retd), General Manager (Business Development), DGPL.
WingCo Jain told PTI that they developed the technology together with Noida-based Addverb Technologies, which is backed by Reliance Industries.
Nearly a year old now it was first introduced in July 2024 "Trakr can already do more than first-generation four-legged robotic prototypes," WingCo Jain added.
"For one its payload capacity is more, it can handle 20 to 25 kg as opposed to 15 kg of the earlier versions," explained WingCo Jain.
According to him, the all-terrain robot can offer logistics support to the Indian Army and help in perimeter surveillance.
"What it can do depends on the sensor that it comes with. For example, we can put a gas leaking detection device, and it can detect leakages. It is also capable of real-time transmission of live video feed through a 4G or 5G sim. The eyes will act as cameras," WingCo Jain said.
For DGPL, participating at the Aero India show is an immense opportunity, the wing commander added.
"We have been trying to pitch it to the Indian Army, but it has not committed to a sealed trial yet. Now, in the next four days, the decision makers of the armed force will have ample time to interact with Trakr," WingCo Jain said.
DGPL already supplyies drones and infrared products to multiple military units in India.
Apart from DGPL's Trakr, the other four-legged robotic prototypes available in the market include Delhi-based AeroArc's Sanjay or MULE that were seen at the Army Day parade at Pune on January 15 and the Republic Day parade in Kolkata on January 26.
Hyderabad-based Zen Technologies is also supposedly developing Prahasta, an automated quadruped that uses LIDAR and reinforcement learning to understand and create real-time 3D terrain mapping for mission planning, navigation, and threat assessment.
India's first quadruped robot tag is attributed to Svaya Robotics, a company based in Hyderabad.
It is said to have developed the prototype in association with two DRDO labs -- the Research and Development Establishment, Pune (R&DE) and Defence Bioengineering & Electro Medical Laboratory, Bengaluru, (DEBEL) in March 2023.
But despite news reports about it, the company's Web site does not list it under its products.
Thane-based startup Edith Defence System's Black Panther is yet another prototype that is circulating online but cannot be found on the company's Web site.
Wing Commander Jain said there exist no trials or demonstrations for these models in the public domain.
Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh-based Bhairav Robotics is marketing Shvana, its robotic dog, as India's first armed Q-UGV (unmanned ground vehicle). But only a rendering of it can be seen on its Web site.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
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