FOUR-LEGGED ROBOTS THAT CAN MOVE ACROSS ANY TERRAIN

India’s first commercial four-legged robot is redefining industrial operations, executing hazardous tasks and powering advanced research with robots purpose-built for real-world environments.

- Nidhi Agarwal

In 2019, Aditya Pratap Singh Rajawat began exploring legged robots at IIT Kanpur, working alongside Prof. Shakti S. Gupta under the guidance of Prof. Mangal Kothari and collaborating with defence research labs. The initial work focused on creating lab prototypes. After graduating, he joined Jaguar Land Rover but remained closely connected with the IIT Kanpur team at the Mobile Robotics Lab. Together, they identified a gap in India: almost no deployable robots and only a few groups exploring advanced robotics. Seeing the opportunity, they decided to transform their lab prototypes into commercial products. In March 2023, xTerra Robotics was established in Kanpur. ‘x’ stands for any variable, while ‘Terra’ represents terrain, together symbolising robots designed to navigate any environment.

One of their key products is the Svan M2, a four-legged robot dog. This is being developed as India’s first commercial quadruped robot. Quadruped means four-legged, and it has been used across various research organisations in India for conducting research in human-machine collaboration, advanced control design, and adding autonomous applications for industries. This product is essential for replacing humans or supporting humans in dull, dirty, and dangerous tasks. With various sensors mounted on the robot head, it can detect gas leaks, identify anomalies on industrial factory floors, and support defence applications by enabling defence security and surveillance at borders.