- Nocca Robotics launched waterless solar cleaning robots which reduce inefficiencies of manual cleaning and recently got the patent for its innovation
- To help fight COVID19, with the support of IIT Kanpur Nocca has developed V310, a modern, compact and dependable ICU ventilator
- Noccarc recently got the first patent granted from the Government of India for their innovation Multi-Angle Solar Panel Cleaning System
Many young and bright minds pass out every year from the elite institutes such as IITs but few of them take it as an obligation to give to society the way Harshit Rathore and Nikhil Kurele have done. These two IITians are the co-founders behind Nocca Robotics, the start-up that started its journey with a goal to upscale India’s lagging hardware sector much in line with its flourishing software saga.
After an initial run-up by starting a project for Defence while studying, both Nikhil and Harshit identified the opportunities in the growing renewable industry in the country, setting its focus on the solar segment, and Nocca Robotics developed robots for waterless cleaning of the solar panel.
But when COVID19 the worst pandemic ever in history hit Indian masses hard, Nocca Robotics soon channelized its expertise into ventilator manufacturing taking support from their mentors at IIT Kanpur, to support the most pressing needs of the healthcare sector. In conversation with Machine Maker, Harshit Rathore takes us through the inspiring journey of a startup that changed many lives in India.
Seeded at Hostel Room & Incubated at Campus: The Nocca Story of IIT Kanpur
Nikhil and Harshit completed their graduation from IIT Kanpur in 2016. In the college itself, their brilliant minds were shaping many innovative ideas. They realised that there are a lot of gaps in Indian manufacturing, especially in the hardware sector. “The idea of a start-up was informally developed in the hostel by our friends in 2015 and it was focused on serving the defence and surveillance sector. Initially, we felt it very difficult to crack the B2G business. We dropped that idea there,” says Harshit.
Soon, Nikhil and Harshit changed their tracks, and they decided to explore and get experienced in the industry. Nikhil started working with Bajaj Auto in Pune, and with his internship experience from TATA, Harshit went to Mumbai to work with a start-up. The born innovators and entrepreneurs within a year explored new challenges in the market, identified upcoming sectors, and selected the Solar industry, which had the potential to grow in the coming years. The duo further proceeded towards constructing their business to a higher-level production and manufacturing firm, the Nocca Robotics started its startup journey by getting incubated at IIT Kanpur.
Making Renewable Energy Efficient with Solar Robots
“At that point in time, we identified that solar is something which has the capability to grow at a rapid rate,” says Harshit. In 2017, they started their journey to explore many different ways of creating robots for cleaning solar panels. “Cleaning of the parts is done manually, while without proper cleaning of the panels, electricity generation drops gradually,” points Harshit. The whole process is very inefficient and labour intensive. The duo came up with the idea of a robotics solution for cleaning the panels. “We went back to IIT Kanpur and started our company from the incubation center there”.
They started prototyping in 2017 for the robot Cleantech. From data prototyping to field validation and after getting funds from IAN and Indian Angel Networks Noccarc finally developed their own facility at Chakan, Pune. Examining the issues of row sizes that could vary from a few meters to kilometers in an identical plant, the Robot is designed in a manner that could be operated each as a devoted and shareable machine. The robots come equipped with a gadget that permits the robot to triumph over high levels of irregularities and undulations. A revolutionary cleaning assembly power mechanism makes the robot like-minded with constant tilt, seasonal tilt, and horizontal unmarried axis trackers.
Collaborative Innovations against COVID19: IIT Kanpur & Nocca Robotics
When every business in India was confused and troubled during COVID19, the Noccarc Duo decided to respond to the clarion call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There were several products listed by the Union Government as well as State Governments which was required fighting the pandemic. Under the guidance of their mentors at IIT Kanpur, Harshit and Nikhil decided to shift their focus towards developing ventilators to help our country tackling the unknown COVID19 situation.
‘IITK Ventilator Consortium’ was formed comprising Nikhil Kurele, Harshit Rathore, Tushar Agarwal, Asim Thakurta, Vineet Kumar with IIT Kanpur team led by Prof. Amitabha Bandyopadhyay & Dr. Nikhil Agarwal along with a group of 15 experienced mentors. The mentors included Dr. Saurabh Srivastava, Srikant Sastri, Sanjay Banerjee, Rakesh Bhargava, Arun Seth, Ajai Chowdhry, Pavan Choudary, Sanjiv Verma, Rajesh Raizada, Padmaja Ruparel.
Within the next two months, the team was able to successfully design, test & certify a high-quality ventilator, which was tested by medical practitioners across the country. Noccard started manufactured the ventilator Noccarc V310 in July and was able to install more than 400 units to date. The demand was so much, by the end of October 2020, Noccarc Healthcare manufacturing will be completely shifted to a new manufacturing setup, and will continue in the business post-pandemic.
Priced at Rs 3.5 lakh, Noccarc v310 gives a modern, compact but dependable ICU ventilation answer. Initially, their plan was to manufacture a basic ventilator model which was going to cost below 1 lakh rupees. But the actual requirement from the Government, IMRC, and HLL which were formulated by the committee of Doctors under DGHS included many more features which are critical to treating COVID19 patents, made them go for more reliable and high-performance ventilators, which was highly appreciated by the medical community in the country.
“We have more than 400 device installations as of today and also other medical devices to treat COVID patents,” says Harshit. The IoT enabled machine permits primary data monitoring and logging remotely making Noccarc V310 miles safer and smooth to manipulate options for the health specialists inside the present-day case of COVID19 pandemic. Noccarc V310 is on a continuous improvement process, and Nocaarc is ready to launch the advanced version very soon. “With the new innovations and our time action, many investors showed their interest in our companies, in the past couple of months,” said Harshith.
After spotting the excessive demand for oxygen remedy all through the pandemic, the start-up also released a low-price excessive float nasal Cannula (HNFC) device H210. The modern-day tool is demonstrated to be powerful within the treatment of the Covid-19 patients and is straightforward to apply and secure for the patients.
Nocca has been nurtured with the aid of SIIC IIT Kanpur and is presently backed by the IAN fund and Indian angel community. Nocca has been presented as a clever startup of the year 2020 via India's smart grid forum. The innovative idea of making a low-cost ventilator is appreciated by many healthcare teams. And now their work has also been nominated in Forbes under 30. With the achievements and the focus on their obligation as technocrats, Nikhil and Harshit are all to touch newer heights. For more details, visit: https://noccarc.com/
