New Delhi | Jagran Education Desk: The Ministry of Education (MoE) on Saturday said that the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has sanctioned Rs 170 crore to Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi to set up a Technology Innovation Hub on Cobotics. The money was sanctioned under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS).

“@IndiaDST has sanctioned Rs 170 crores to @iitdelhi to set up a Technology Innovation Hub on #Cobotics. The focus will be given to technologies where robots can work together with humans to maximize the benefits of human intelligence”, the MoE said in a tweet.

.@IndiaDST has sanctioned Rs 170 crores to @iitdelhi to set up a Technology Innovation Hub on #Cobotics.
The focus will be given to technologies where robots can work together with humans to maximize the benefits of human intelligence.
Know more: https://t.co/3dOfo4jrix pic.twitter.com/n16uwnKONw

— Ministry of Education (@EduMinOfIndia)
August 22, 2020

(Official Twitter Handle of Ministry of Education)

The innovation hub on Cobotics is also known as the ‘I-Hub Foundation for Cobotics (IHFC)’ was incorporated as a section-8 company by the IIT Delhi in June 2020 with initial funding from the DST.  

“The I-Hub Foundation for Cobotics (IHFC) will not only perform research in the area of Collaborative Robotics i.e. Cobotics, but also proactively translate the outcomes into products for the benefit of the humanity,” Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi who chairs the board of the company under the NM-ICPS programme of DST said as reported by Careers 360.

The IHFC will be covering ‘medical robotics, agriculture and disaster management, defence and smart manufacturing (Industry 4.0)’ at the IIT Delhi. Under the IHFC, the focus will be on the technologies where the humans can work along with robots and increasing the benefit of robots’ precision and ability to work in an atmosphere where it is not possible for humans to work.    

Apart from 50 faculties at IIT Delhi and other universities in India, universities from Japan, Korea, USA, the UK along with several companies have already committed to the IHFC at IIT Delhi.  

One of the Board Members of the IHFC at IIT Delhi, Prof. S.K. Saha, as reported by Careers 360, said, “We have already initiated two robotic applications with three companies to fulfil requirements of AIIMS New Delhi and PGI Chandigarh with respect COVID-19. Besides, a seed grant of more than Rs. 02 Cr has already been allocated to faculty for hiring PhD students and initiate research for the IHFC. We have also advertised for the post of CEO, IHFC.”

Posted By: Talib Khan