World's second humanoid police robot launched in Hyderabad

H-Bots Robotics, a Hyderabad-based startup, has developed a smart policing robot which can take complaints, detect bombs and identify suspects.

The company on Friday launched the Beta version of the robot, which will now be tested on ground over the next six months before its commercial deployment in July next year.

A completely indigenous robot, it recognises people, interacts and answers queries. H-Bots founder Kisshhan PSV told reporters here after the launch that it is the world's second humanoid police robot. The first humanoid police robot, deployed in Dubai, was manufactured in France.

"Our smart policing robot is specifically equipped to protect and secure malls, airports, offices, buildings and other public and private places," he said.

The robot can recognise voices in English but in future it will have features to recognise Hindi, Telugu or other languages. It also has the ability to do 360 degree eye level surveillance, face and gesture recognition, detect metals, monitor temperature and control theft.

The Beta version was launched by Jayesh Ranjan, Telangana's Principal Secretary, Information Technology, in the presence of individuals who mentored and invested in the startup.

Kisshhan said they plan to make the robot available at a price of Rs 5 lakh. The company has plans to produce 70 police robots every year. "We will increase the production to 700 different robots by 2020," he added.

H-Bots already has orders for 38 robots both from India and abroad. The company is in talks with Telangana Police and also hopes to get orders from Assam Police, which provided inputs for the project.

On the occasion of the launch, the startup signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Amigo Group of Thailand for supply of robots.

Chandra Sekhar Avvaru, Chairman, Amigo Group, said the company was looking for deployment of 100 robots for their hospitality and construction businesses. It has also partnered with H-Bots for research and development and will be investing $1 million.

Kisshhan said the company had so far invested $1 million and plans to raise another $5 million next month.

Some startups from T-Hub, country's largest technology incubator here, have teamed up with H-Bots to work on different components of the project.