Last updated: 28 September 2026 · By Hari Phi, CEO & Co-founder, TechieYan Technologies
Short answer: to scope a robotics automation project in India, define the task and target throughput (cycle time against your takt time), survey the site, decide what is off-the-shelf versus custom, plan safety to the relevant ISO standards, and write acceptance tests before buying hardware. Then run it in three phases: a 2–3 week feasibility and simulation sprint, a single-cell or single-zone pilot of about 6–10 weeks, and a phased rollout with sign-off per cell.
Key takeaways
- Scope the outcome (parts per hour, cycle time, uptime), not the robot.
- Check the robot’s cycle time against your takt time with margin for real-world stoppages.
- Safety design, risk assessment, and validation belong in the first scope — not after installation.
- Write factory and site acceptance tests before the purchase order.
- Budget for integration, training, spares, and maintenance, not just hardware.
TechieYan Technologies is a robotics automation company in Hyderabad that builds AMR fleets, ROS 2 software stacks, and PLC-integrated workcells for manufacturing and logistics teams across India.
Step 1: Define the task and the throughput target
Every robotics scope should start with numbers the plant already uses.
- Takt time = available production time ÷ required output. Example: 450 minutes per shift ÷ 900 parts = 30 seconds per part.
- Required cycle time = the robot or cell must complete one task comfortably inside takt time — plan margin for changeovers, faults, and operator interventions.
- Effective capacity = rated rate × availability × performance × quality (the OEE components). Use realistic availability, not 100%.
- Variants: list every part, SKU, or pallet type the robot must handle, with weights and dimensions.
Step 2: Survey the site
- Floor layout, aisle widths, ramps, doors, and lifts the robot must pass.
- Floor quality and levelness for mobile robots; foundations for fixed arms.
- Power supply, backup power, and charging locations.
- Wi-Fi coverage and network segmentation for robot traffic.
- Environment: dust, heat, humidity, lighting, and washdown requirements.
- Existing PLCs, conveyors, and machines the robot must talk to — make, model, and protocols.
- How people and forklifts move through the same space.
Step 3: Decide what to buy and what to engineer
| Situation | Off-the-shelf usually fits | Custom engineering usually needed |
|---|---|---|
| Material movement | Standard pallet or tote moves on clear routes | Mixed traffic, unusual loads, lifts or doors, multi-vendor fleets |
| Picking and handling | Uniform parts in fixed positions | Random bin picking, many SKUs, deformable or reflective parts |
| End-of-arm tooling | Standard grippers and suction cups | Custom grippers, tool changers, force-controlled tasks |
| Integration | New lines with modern PLCs | Legacy PLC estates and machines without APIs — common in Indian plants |
| Software | Vendor fleet manager is sufficient | ROS 2 customisation, vision guidance, integration with WMS/MES |
Step 4: Plan safety from day one
Safety is a design input, not a certificate at the end. Your scope should name the applicable standards and who performs the risk assessment. Commonly referenced standards include:
- ISO 10218 — safety of industrial robots and robot systems.
- ISO/TS 15066 — collaborative robot applications where people and robots share space.
- ISO 3691-4 — driverless industrial trucks, including AMRs and AGVs.
- ISO 13849 / IEC 62061 — functional safety of control systems such as safety PLCs, light curtains, and E-stops.
Deliverables should include a documented risk assessment, safety PLC logic, guarding or safety-scanner layouts, and E-stop and interlock validation records.
Step 5: Write the acceptance tests before the purchase order
| Test | Where | What it proves |
|---|---|---|
| Factory acceptance test (FAT) | Integrator’s facility | Cell meets cycle time and handles every variant before shipping |
| Site acceptance test (SAT) | Your plant | Throughput, integration, and safety functions work in real conditions |
| Endurance run | Your plant, full shifts | Uptime and fault recovery over several days of production |
| Operator sign-off | Your plant | Trained operators can run, recover, and restart the cell safely |
Step 6: Phase the project
| Phase | Typical duration | Deliverables | Gate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Feasibility and simulation | 2–3 weeks | Site survey, layout and traffic simulation, cycle-time study, concept design, cost model | Simulated throughput meets target with margin |
| 2. Single-cell or single-zone pilot | About 6–10 weeks | Hardware installed, PLC/WMS integration, safety validation, trained operators | SAT and endurance run passed |
| 3. Phased rollout | Per cell or zone | Additional cells, fleet scaling, SOPs, spares and maintenance plan | Sign-off per cell, invoiced against on-site acceptance |
Step 7: Budget every line item
Hardware is often less than half of what a successful project needs. Your budget should list:
- Robots, AMRs, or arms, plus controllers and chargers
- End-of-arm tooling, fixtures, and guarding
- Vision hardware and compute, if used
- Integration engineering: PLC, WMS/MES, networking
- Safety design, risk assessment, and validation
- Software licences and fleet management
- Installation, commissioning, and site preparation
- Operator and maintenance training
- Spares kit and annual maintenance contract
Non-negotiable deliverables
- ROS 2 / Nav2 codebase or a documented middleware stack you can audit
- Electrical drawings, PLC programs, and network diagrams
- Safety risk assessment and validation records
- Maintenance runbooks and a spare-parts list
- Operator training with sign-off
Common scoping mistakes
- Scoping “one AMR” instead of the full material flow it belongs to.
- Testing only the easiest part variant during the demo.
- Assuming legacy PLCs can be integrated without a site survey.
- Leaving safety validation and operator training until after installation.
- No endurance run, so reliability problems surface in production.
Next step
See robotics & automation engineering, robotics automation in India, our warehouse automation guide, and our engagement models. Contact TechieYan for a scoped proposal.
FAQ
How long does a robotics automation pilot take in India?
Feasibility and simulation typically take 2–3 weeks. A single-cell or single-zone pilot usually runs about 6–10 weeks, including site acceptance and endurance testing, before wider rollout.
What should a robotics automation scope document include?
The task and throughput target, site survey findings, part variants, integration points (PLC, WMS, MES), safety standards and risk assessment, acceptance tests (FAT, SAT, endurance), phased timeline, budget line items, and training and maintenance plans.
Which safety standards apply to robots and AMRs?
Projects commonly reference ISO 10218 for industrial robots, ISO/TS 15066 for collaborative applications, ISO 3691-4 for driverless industrial trucks such as AMRs, and ISO 13849 or IEC 62061 for safety-related control systems.
Should we buy off-the-shelf robots or custom-engineer?
Off-the-shelf works for standard moves and uniform parts. Custom engineering is needed for mixed SKUs, custom grippers, vision guidance, or integration with legacy PLCs and machines.
About the author
Hari Phi is CEO and Co-founder of TechieYan Technologies. He has a decade of industrial work across IoT, applied AI, and production robotics — from edge inference on factory floors to autonomous platforms built to outlast the pilot phase. More about our team · LinkedIn.
