Zepth, a Gurugram-based software provider for construction management, partnered with Boston Dynamics to deploy the US company’s humanoid robot, ‘Spot’, at construction projects. It can collect data and facilitate artificial intelligence-led decision-making using Zepth’s analytics.
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“Spot’s autonomous navigation and data capture capabilities streamline project oversight and safety,” Zepth founder and chief executive Prasoon Shrivastava said. “It provides comprehensive site surveys, detects potential hazards and ensures project timelines are met, enhancing efficiency.”
Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot has been deployed across various use-cases such as public safety, healthcare logistics, agricultural monitoring, and even at the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site. It is being used in the construction industry for the first time.
“According to a study, in a decade and a half, almost 45% of the activities would be taken over by robots in the construction industry which includes manufacturing as well. So, we’ve also taken a step towards that and integrated with the Spot robot,” Shrivastava said. The Spot robot currently costs nearly Rs 1.5 crore to build, he added.
“The cost is very high using these robots and I would say these are early days for robotics to enter the construction industry, but we believe in four-five years the cost should substantially go down. There are a number of experiments going on across the world including India, the Middle East and the US on different kinds of robots, whether it is to capture data or to carry out brickwork and do plaster work,” he said.
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In India, importing robots attracts 100% duty which makes the use-case unviable in a country where manual labour is cheap and in abundance.Zepth has used OpenAI’s custom GPT offering to build 40 AI agents — the AI risk managers which flag various risks in a construction project lifecycle.
The company’s annual revenue has already topped $1 million this current fiscal year, he said. Its customers in India include the BCCI cricket academy. In the UAE, it works for the Aldar Group, SHUAA Capital, Crown Plaza and Holiday Inn hotels.
Shrivastava said the startup is in talks with investors to raise its first funding round to expand in the Americas as well as deeper in India and the Middle East.
Its project manager app has over 40,000 downloads in India with more than 500 projects and nearly 8,000 daily users, the CEO said.