Introduction
Every time you look up at a gleaming high-rise building, there’s a good chance a human being risked their life to keep it that way. Hanging off the side of a building dozens of floors up, exposed to wind, rain, and the very real possibility of a fatal fall, that’s the reality for thousands of construction and maintenance workers across India. Vividobots, a Chennai-based deep tech startup, wants to change that.
A Founder’s Inspiration Came From Tragedy
The story of Vividobots starts with a moment that shook its founder, Mr. Dinesh, during his undergraduate days. A high-rise building painter fell from a building while doing his job. That incident stayed with Dinesh, and eventually became the driving force behind building robotic solutions for one of the most dangerous and overlooked segments of the construction industry.
Meet the Two Robots: Wiperque and Vibrantque – XT
Vividobots has developed two products targeting high-rise building exteriors.
The first, Wiperque, is already out in the market. It’s a facade cleaning robot built to handle flat exterior surfaces on buildings up to 30 floors high. What makes it impressive isn’t just that it cleans but it’s how well it handles the unpredictable outdoors. The robot can withstand wind speeds of up to 55 kilometres per hour and is designed to manage the swinging and instability that comes with working at such heights. It cleans the traditional way using brushes, water spray, and a wiper because, as the team puts it, that method simply works best.
The second product, Vibrantque, is currently in testing and expected to begin pilot demonstrations next month. This one is a wall painting robot, and it’s more advanced. It carries its own 40-litre paint canister, supports multicolour painting in a single session, and comes fitted with a robotic arm that can reach building projections, window edges, and other tricky surfaces without any human assistance. Both robots are faster than human workers and cost less to operate, while dramatically reducing the safety risk.
Building Something Nobody Had Tried Before
One of the most exciting parts of building Vividobots, according to the team, has been working in completely uncharted territory. Interior painting robots exist. But robots that can handle uncontrolled environments are essentially nonexistent. That meant no ready-made data to train their models on.
But that novelty came with real challenges. ROS (Robot Operating System), the technology at the heart of their robots, is still an emerging field, and finding engineers with the right experience has been difficult. Funding, as with most deep tech startups, has been another ongoing hurdle.
From Government Grants to Seed Funding
Vividobots was incorporated in 2021 and has steadily built up its funding base. The company received early-stage grants from EDIITN (Entrepreneurship Development and Innovation Institute, Tamil Nadu), including a 2 lakh grant for initial prototyping and a subsequent 5 lakh voucher for further development. They also received 15 lakhs through the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme via Sathyabama University, and 10 lakhs as a debt fund from NIDHI-DST through Cultiv8 Coimbatore.
On the private investment side, the company raised a seed round of 1.47 crore from Inflection Point Ventures, Delhi.
Advice for Young Founders: Stop Thinking About Money
When asked what he would tell young startup founders in India today, Co-Founder Velmurugan said, “Don’t let money be the reason you quit.” All three founders hold master’s degrees from Anna University and could have walked into well-paying jobs. But they chose not to.
“Not even a single instant did we think about giving up the startup idea. Whatever things we are doing in our startup will directly give back to us. Every credit will reach the startup which means the founders will get it.” said Velmurugan.
Interview by : Khevna Reddy
