DST ESTIC 2026 Session on Autonomous Systems and Physical AI
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) conducted a session on Autonomous Systems, Physical AI and Robotics as part of the Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave (ESTIC) 2026 held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi from October 27 to 29. The session brought together perspectives from industry, academia, research institutions and start-ups to discuss how these technologies would transform scientific research and technological innovations in the near future.
Prof. Umesh V. Waghmare, Secretary of DST, emphasized that collaboration among industry, academia, researchers, start-ups and technology users is crucial for advancing autonomous systems, Physical AI and robotics. He highlighted the importance of translating scientific ideas into solutions with societal impact through synergy among different stakeholders. Prof. Waghmare specifically mentioned DST's National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems, which has established technology innovation hubs at 25 leading academic institutions across India to facilitate interaction between academia, industry and start-ups for translating laboratory ideas into marketplace applications.
Notably, Phase I of this mission is scheduled to conclude in December 2027, and the discussions and feedback from this session would help inform the formulation of plans for the mission's second phase.
Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Member of NITI Aayog, provided technical insights during the session, stating that Physical AI represents both an artificial intelligence challenge and a systems engineering challenge. He emphasized that successful intelligent physical systems require reliable sensors, efficient actuators, real-time computing, robust control algorithms, low-latency communication and energy-efficient hardware. Prof. Karandikar highlighted the critical importance of reliability, verification, safety, security and trustworthiness in physical AI systems, noting that errors involving robots or autonomous vehicles can have immediate physical consequences unlike conversational AI tools.
He pointed out that India has significant opportunities to develop autonomous systems by leveraging existing capabilities in systems engineering, electronics, manufacturing, embedded systems, design, telecommunications and software. Integrating intelligence and advanced algorithms into existing robotics and cyber-physical systems capabilities could enable development of more reliable, safe and trustworthy autonomous technologies. Prof. Karandikar also suggested that the next phase of the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems could provide an opportunity to take up Physical AI, building on capabilities developed under the existing mission.
The session featured participation from multiple dignitaries including Shri Jalaj A. Dani, Chairman of Addverb Technologies Ltd.; Prof. P. Rajalakshmi from IIT Hyderabad; Shri Ashutosh Dutt Sharma from IIT Delhi; Dr. Rohan Paul from IIT Delhi; Prof. Santosh K. Vishvakarma from IIT Indore; Dr. Rohini Srivathsa, former CTO of Microsoft India; Prof. K. Madhava Krishna from Robotics Research Centre and Kohli Centre for Intelligent Systems; Shri Aditya Pratap Rajawat from xTerra Robotics; Shri Manas Upadhyay from DTown Robotics Pvt. Ltd.; and Shri Ritukar Vijay from Ottonomy.io.