Reliance-backed automation firm Addverb aims at $100 mn topline in FY25

Reliance Group-backed Indian robotics firm Addverb expects to achieve revenue of $100 million in FY25, according to CEO Sangeet Kumar in an interview with TechCircle. The company also aims to reach $1 billion in revenue within the next five years.

"In the next five years, we aim to become a billion-dollar company in terms of revenue, and we believe we’re on the right track to achieve this goal. This year, if everything goes as planned, we expect to generate around $100 million. With the growing demand for automation in India and globally, we are confident in reaching these targets," he said.

Founded in 2016, the company has been in the business of industrial robotics and warehouse automation. Addverb, in which Reliance owns a 56% stake, counts Flipkart, ITC, Unilever, and others among its customers. In November, the company announced its entry in building humanoid robots. Kumar calls it a natural progression for the company.

"Two years ago, we decided to develop our own collaborative robotic arm, which we successfully launched last year at the LogiMAT event. This arm is designed for versatile applications across industries, including factories and warehouses, as well as medical use cases such as assistive living and imaging technologies. 

Additionally, there was a requirement from the Indian defense sector for a quadruped, a four-legged robot, which we developed for them. With this, we now cover approximately 80% of the robotics spectrum, encompassing mobile robots, articulated robots, cobots, and quadrupeds—the four primary forms of robotics. The fifth form is humanoids," explained Kumar.

These humanoid robots will leverage self-learning algorithms to navigate complex environments and will be deployed across various industries such as warehouse, defense, and healthcare. 

Addverb currently has Cobots that function as robotic arms with six degrees of freedom (DOF). In robotics, DOF describes the independent movements a robot can make. “A humanoid robot incorporates two Cobots as arms, providing 12 DOF, and two legs, which are essentially cobots with a different form factor, adding another 12 DOF. The humanoid we are currently working on will have 39 DOF, including an upper torso, head, and lower torso. In the next stage, we aim to develop a humanoid with 54 DOF.” Another team at Addverb is working on an AI model that will help the robot to be trained on general tasks which can be extrapolated to specific tasks.

Kumar said that the challenge lies in enabling humanoids to adapt to environments — factories, warehouses, homes, and medical facilities – that are essentially designed for humans. Without commenting on the timeline in which these humanoids would be ready, Kumar said that he expects several setbacks throughout the course. “When we began developing the quadruped, we faced several failures. However, each failure helped us refine our approach and avoid repeating the same mistakes. This is undeniably a tough problem, and as such, it’s very difficult to commit to a specific timeline. We anticipate setbacks in our attempts, but our strength lies in our ability to learn quickly and act with greater agility.”

To be sure, globally, there are several companies attempting to build humanoids. For instance, Elon Musk-owned Tesla unveiled Optimus, its humanoid robot in 2021, showcasing the prototype the following year. While the company aimed for a rollout by the end of 2024, earlier this year Musk said that Optimus will enter ‘low-production’ for internal use at Tesla in 2025. One of the most valuable companies by market cap in the world, Tesla is most well-known for its electric vehicles.

Further, Addverb will be working closely with its partners such as Reliance, Intel, Nvidia, and Texas Instruments. For building humanoids, Addverb will tap on the Jio AI Platform and 5G services, and deploy it extensively across the group’s businesses for various use cases. With partners like Intel and Nvidia, Addverb will utilise their hardware solutions such as graphic processing units (GPUs) and edge computing hardware. “We have procured a variety of GPUs directly, and Reliance has also made significant investments in GPU infrastructure. We will leverage both our internal resources and Reliance’s capabilities to support all our robotic initiatives," said Kumar.

Kumar added that the humanoids will be built at its BotValley facility in Noida. Equipment that need to be developed at scale will be produced at its second facility called BotVerse, also located in Noida. 

"We are already covered under the UP Electronics Incentive Scheme, which has provided subsidies for both land and capital expenditure at our factories. However, there is currently no Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) specifically for robotics, unlike some of our sister industries that benefit from such schemes. We believe robotics is the future of manufacturing worldwide, and we would urge the government to consider extending PLI support to this sector,” said Kumar, responding to a question on government incentives.