One of the most common habits amongst children is to break open the toys out of curiosity and see what is inside. The childhood of Pulkit Gaur was no different, his journey as an obsessive and compulsive innovator started when he was at his destructive best with toys. But unlike other children , Pulkit would reassemble the toy which he had dismembered, as best as he could. When he was just 10 years old , Pulkit built a transmitter by which he could able to listen the conversation between local policemen who were on their walkie-talkie. By the time, he topped his school in X th board, he was an electronics nut, visiting scrap shops, gorging on books and science magazines that published circuits to build radios and other products. This child prodigy, Pulkit Gaur is an illustrious alumnus of MBM Engineering College from Production and Industrial branch of 2004 Batch, As a founder of Gridbots Technologies Pvt. Limited, he developed Robots which are replacing humans in hazardous occupation.

His past achievements of Er. Pulkit Gaur are nothing short to be overlooked , from achieving AIR 89 in GATE to being called by the PM Narendra Modi in 2017, from designing OS during his first year of engineering to receiving TED Fellow and MIT Young Innovator of the year to innovating underwater robots.

Early life, Schooling :

Born on March 4 th 1981 ,Pulkit came from a well educated family. His father, Shri Dinesh Kumar Gaur worked as an Additional Director in Intelligence Bureau – Ministry of Home Affairs ,Govt. of India and his mother Mrs. Mithilesh Gaur, worked as a Supervisor under the State Government’s ICDS (WHO). His Grand Father Late Ayodhya Prasad Gaur was renowned educationist of Jodhpur.

He got his roots  stronger from his father, who  was his mentor and a pillar of support in building a keen interest in Science and Technology. He did his schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 2 – Jodhpur, which is reviewed as one of the best schools  for overall development , and he continued the legacy of his school by setting an example for the same. His memories mostly include participating in different science competitions at different ages. Not to forget the cherry on the top, He was a notorious kid who troubled his neighbours using home built Radio Transmitters on AM band and playing his own voice of tone generators to make them switch off their radios. Building CB radios and communicating with people from different countries.

After completing his Schooling ,Pulkit joined MBM Engineering college in the year 2000, and opted Production and Industrial Engineering branch, which contributed significantly to his understanding of engineering concepts and provided a lot of exposure towards his professional life. His teachers contributed a lot to his career with their enormous experience and warmth.

College and Higher Education :

The journey of thousand miles begins with a single step and Pulkit took the very first during his first year, he designed and developed a 32 bit operating system which had its own command shell and file system. It took him just 3 months to code it, after going through the code of Linux kernel. He actively participated in all the contests and competitions held around him, and was a part of around 30-40 national and international competitions in various engineering institutes and won accolades in 4 years.

Er. Gaur, was equally interested in academics as well, and scored highest aggregate marks in his class. In his final year, he got a project assistantship offer from IIT Bombay Professors and his project was approved under Young Scientist Incentive Plan (Govt. of India).The project was about designing and developing a hybrid vehicle sandwich, which they drove for 10 kms  on Jodhpur roads. He appeared for GATE in IT and secured 99.08% percentile (89 AIR), but was unable to pursue his higher education from his dream college – IISc, Bangalore, because of low ranks. However he did not loose his heart and focussed his energy in Robotics and came out as a winner.

professional journey:

“An organization, no matter how well designed, is only as good as the people who live and work in it.”

Er. Gaur started his career with a US based MNC and served for around 2 years before starting his own venture in Robotics in 2007. Currently he serves as the CTO/Founder of Gridbots Technologies – an Indian organization working in the field of robotics, machine vision and artificial intelligence. The start-up basically designs and develops robots for various industries from different industrial verticals like Glass, Pharma, Food, Automotive, Electronics, Retail, FMCG and supplying their  robotic systems to Indian Army, Indian Navy, BARC, DRDO, ISRO and many other leading organizations. It develops robots that can be used for inspection and welding and cutting operations in difficult-to-reach spaces. With indigenous research and manufacturing capabilities, Gridbots has deployed robots for almost all segments of industry and is targeting international markets.

tryst with entreprenurship:

After working for 2 years with US based MNC, Er. Pulkit Gaur started Gridbots in August 2007 with an initial capital of Rs. 10 Lacs and broke even that December itself. Later on an additional funding of Rs.25 Lacs provided by Government of India’s Department of Science & Technology. Gridbots developed variety of robots for different applications and jobs. He developed an entry level educational robot Turtle for Rs.5000 and got tremendous response from masses. Another robot Sleuthound, an automatic tracking camera for surveillance. These cameras were programmable and store sequence apart from having a 30 x zoom that capture every single detail. Gridbots also introduced robotic arm assembly with object manipulation capabilities. ” In Gujarat, we supplied these robotic arms to a pickle manufacturer at Rs. 3 Lacs a piece, which was a fifth of German or Japanese product of same specifications.” Informs Er. Gaur with pride. SaUsR is another product, which is very useful for underwater inspections, operations and cleaning up to a depth of 50 meters.

MAKING ROBOTS FOR DIRTY, DANGEROUS AND DIFFICULT JOBS

Gridbots has been making robots for applications which are not only difficult but dangerous also. They have been selling robots to nuclear reactors, Oil explorations companies like ONGC and OIL, ISRO and other organizations. ” In Tata run power plant in Mundra, a wooden block was stuck 10 meters deep in a 300 mm diameter high pressure pipe. The plant was not functioning for some time because of this blockage and it was causing about Rs. 2.5 Crs to the company everyday. Company approached us to resolve the issue and with the help of Gridbots Stinger, we removed the wooden log in less than 5 hours. It was a satisfying moments for me as with indigenous technology, we could able to save 2.5 Crs per day for the company.” Says Er. Gaur.

Gridbots Technologies, which made a name in cleaning up underground storage tanks, found that their robots, with modification, would find application in industries that needed to clean up water in assorted storage systems. He got calls from organisations such as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) following the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power facility in Japan. In March 2011, an earthquake and a tsunami had damaged the stainless steel tanks that stored radioactive fuel rods at the plant. BARC wanted to secure similar tanks against any possible leakage. In the wake of the radioactive disaster at Fukushima, which badly harmed aquatic life in the Pacific Ocean, reactors across the world wanted to put safety mechanisms in place.

In December 2012, Gridbots Technologies delivered a robot to help prevent any radioactive leakage from BARC’s refinery. “We visited BARC several times to see to it that the robot is modified to the client’s specifications. It was a Government of India project, which we have completed,” says Gaur. He now plans to develop robots to decommission nuclear plants across Europe. His company was approached even by Japanese firms to help protect nuclear facilities there from radioactive spills.

Awards & Accolades :

Er. Pulkit Gaur and Gridbots Technologies have won a number of awards and accolades from many Indian and International agencies. Gridbots was awarded India’s hottest start-ups award. He has received TED Fellowship – MIT Young Innovator Award and Rajiv Motwani Circle Fellowship for his technological innovations. Gridbots is a winner of Nasscom Innovation Awards – 2011 under most promising technologies. In 2015, Siemens steering committee (Comprising of Nobel Laureates) invited Er. Gaur  to provide inputs on their future policy on robotics. In 2017 PM Modi invited him for their flagship program “Champions of Change” for providing inputs of policy matters.

Life Beyond Robots:

Staying in Ahmedabad with his parents, Er. Gaur would like to watch Sci-fi movies in his leisure time. He also loves cooking and indulge himself in making some of the best Indian and foreign cuisine. “We have actively worked with National association for Blinds during various years to develop devices which could help the people with problem with vision to sense the world using audio feedback” Informs Er. Pulkit.

Down the memory lane:

College life is like that trip you always wanted to go to but never wanted it to end. And you have a bunch of memories to look upon. MBM not  only provided him a degree but also a souvenir of cherishing moments and amazing friends who are still close to his heart.

College was not just a place with happy days but it was more of learning new things, dealing with hurdles created due to politics, getting hands on multiple things, however some didn’t work according to their plan like publishing Technical magazine, Placement Brochure but gave a lot of experience and ideas.

It was surely with the help of teachers and a few mentors who just replaced their fluorescent tubes with LEDs to guide them the sparkling way to achieve great heights.

Follow your passion :

A man who always listens to his heart, believes in what he loves doing and does not stress much about the external affairs that might influence his decision, is the actual definition of a successful person. Thus he advises everyone, “Follow your passion without thinking what others would say and give your 100% to it and leave rest to God!”

A staunch believer and follower of Sanatan Dharma who believes in everyone’s wellbeing.

Giving Back to alma mater:

Success of any college can be measured by the contribution of the alma mater of their alumni’s that holds a strong reason for MBM being named in the top 5 institutes of Rajasthan. Gridbots Technologies have been a constant recruiter of students from MBM engineering college over the years.

    Enlightening the young minds with knowledge and giving them exposure to the robot world by conducting workshops for students in early years and later on mentoring them to achieve greater heights.

Er. Pulkit Gaur has proved that with right mind set and focus one can achieve all the success in life. We wish him a great future ahead and Gridbots established itself as a global player in the world of Robots and technologies.

About Author:

Taru Arora is a student at MBM engineering college, currently pursuing her Second year Bachelor of Engineering in computer science. She has a keen interest in both tech and non-tech stuff, be it Basketball, Guitar, Swimming or learning various Computer languages like Python and C.