As an academic and practitioner in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), marketing and operational automation, I feel that India’s future with robots will be significantly different from developed economies.

The world of robotics is in a new era. Humanoid robots, AI assistants, autonomous warehouses, and fully automated service ecosystems are increasingly becoming the emblem of technological advancement in developed countries like the United States, Japan, Germany and South Korea. Technology companies and venture capital communities are pouring billions of dollars into robotics infrastructure that will set the standard for productivity and the future of work. However, as an AI, marketing and operational automation practitioner, I feel that India's future with robots will be significantly different from developed economies.

India is not yet ready for technology show-offs in the form of robots. India requires real-life workflow automation that will remove operational inefficiencies from hospitals, hospitality, logistics, education, retail and service sectors. My opinion is that the key to success in India is not in showing futuristic humanoids instead of intelligent systems that can make significant operational value, optimise workflows and increase productivity in real-life scenarios.

India and Real-Life Workflow Automation

To me, India is not yet ready for technology show-offs in the form of robots. India requires real-life workflow automation that will remove operational inefficiencies from hospitals, hospitality, logistics, education, retail and service sectors. My take is that the key to success in India is not in showing futuristic humanoids instead of intelligent systems that can make significant operational value, optimise workflows and increase productivity in real-life scenarios. Strategically, the difference between developed and developing economies is critical when talking about robotics adoption.

In Japan and Germany, for example, automation is a must due to an ageing population, an ageing workforce, and very high labour costs. Advanced robotic systems are increasingly being used in hospitals in the US since health care is costly and there is a measurable economic return on investment for the automation. Because of the lack of caregivers in Japan, robots are now helping the elderly in the care and maintenance of their well-being. These economies are embedded in highly digitalised and well-developed environments with robust infrastructure, connectivity and consumer power, and enterprise automation maturity. When these conditions are met, large-scale adoption of robots can be economically feasible.

To my observation, India is a very different reality. India has a youthful workforce, price-conscious businesses, inconsistent infrastructure, and partially manual operational processes in numerous industries. The priorities and operating contexts of a Tokyo hospital and a mid-size hospital in Chennai are completely different. For a Japanese hospital, the need for high precision and total automation may be the highest priority; whereas, for an Indian hospital, it may be the need for a robust, cost-effective solution that delivers medicine transportation, lessening the repetitive motion of staff and enhancing workflow efficiency. The priorities are thus quite different, too.

This is the reason why a lot of the imported robotic systems fail to scale effectively in India. The vast majority of global robotic firms create their products for top-tier use in highly stable operational environments with strong infrastructure, good internet connectivity and high automation budgets. But Indian organisations need to have systems that work within realistic constraints.

An example of this is a robot that is built for a much digitised American hospital system that would not work well in an Indian healthcare system that is still somewhat manual. There is a need for multilingual communication, and internet connections are not always reliable. Consequently, a great proportion of imported robotic systems simply become demonstration rather than operational technologies.

What is required for India

I think the actual opportunity for India in terms of automation is not humanoid robots, but workflow automation. In hospitals, hotels, restaurants, offices and educational institutions, organisations are still losing productivity due to the time employees are spending on repetitive operational activities rather than higher-value activities. Nurses have to dedicate precious time on transporting drugs and reports, rather than on patient care. The hotel staff coordinates room service multiple times. During busy restaurant hours, repetitive delivery and coordinating tasks are handled by restaurant employees.

While these may not seem like particularly glamorous technological challenges, they are very relevant operational problems on an economic scale. Thus, it is likely that systems that will enhance the operational efficiency, and not completely replace the human, will be the future of Indian robotics. A delivery bot for a hospital doesn't have to look like something from a science fiction film; it can be a very basic machine in India. It just has to move reliably, communicate in multiple languages, eliminate repetitive motion and operate reliably in real operational conditions. It will be more useful than technologically advanced devices.

The cost of the robotics system will also be one of the key factors that will define success in India. Labour costs in developed economies are already very high, and enterprises may argue that these expensive robotics systems are justified. But in India, the value of automation has to be proven in terms of operation and efficiency. There are many imported robotic systems with high acquisition costs, dependency on the cloud, proprietary software ecosystems and expensive maintenance structures. These models are not easy to implement in mid-sized healthcare organisations like hospitals, hotels, and businesses in India on a large scale.

Philosophy of Automation

India needs a different automation philosophy for an affordable, local, resilient and scalable one. India's path to automation could be similar to its digital payments revolution in many respects. UPI, instead of being a direct replica of an infrastructure from the West, it is a solution that is very localised and scalable for Indian realities. The future of Indian robotics and workflow automation can be similar to a localisation-first approach.

The Startup India, Make in India, Digital India and Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) are some of the government initiatives that are slowly shaping India's deep-tech ecosystem. Robotics and AI startups are receiving more support from incubators and start-up ecosystems, including prototype funding, incubation support, mentorship and commercialisation assistance.

It is a critical support, especially since the challenges facing robotics startups are different from those encountered by software startups. Before commercialisation is possible, robotics companies need to prototype its hardware, refine the deployment, coordinate manufacturing, test, and accept the longer operational learning cycles. One of the common myths about robotics is that it will eliminate jobs. I think the more realistic and economically viable option in India is towards human augmented automation, not replacement.

The most successful systems will probably be the ones that minimise repetitive tasks, boost operational productivity, optimise workflow, and enable workers to concentrate on higher-value tasks. This will mean that automation in India is likely to be used as a productivity multiplier more often than it will be seen as a replacement for human involvement.

As a keen eye on the development of automation and the AI ecosystem, I firmly believe that India's automation revolution will not start with humans replacing humans. It will start with empowering them through intelligent, accessible and workflow-oriented automation systems tailored explicitly for real-world operational environments.

(Dr Uttam Chakraborty is a Strategic Advisor of HANBEE Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and Associate Professor of Digital Marketing and AI at TAPAI Management Institute, Bengaluru)