Kanaoka (third from left), Founder and Representative Director, Jinki Ittai Co. Ltd., Japan; U Subba Rao (fourth left), General Manager, Integral Coach Factory, Ministry of Railways, Chennai; and N. Ramesh Kumar (left), MD and CEO, RIR Power Electronics Limited, Mumbai, visiting a stall after inaugurating the 21st edition of INTEC 2026
| Photo Credit:
PERIASAMY M
Japan-based robotics start-up Jinki-Ittai is looking for partners in India to manufacture its human-operated robots.
Kanaoka, president of Jinki – Ittai (Man-Machine Synergy Effectors, Inc.), who inaugurated the 21st edition of the industrial machinery exhibition INTEC 2026 organised by the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association in Coimbatore on Thursday, told The Hindu that it has patents for all its technologies.
The startup, valued at about ₹179 crore (three billion Japanese yen), is looking to promote the use of its robots on a subscription basis. “We are expensive. So we create specialised business models that make it easy for users. We have a subscription model so that the robots can be used the way we use our mobile phones,” he said.
“We have partners in Japan who make robots for the Japanese market. We are looking for similar partners in India too,” he added. The Jinki-Ittai robots are used in Japan for the maintenance of railway lines and so on. “These robots are targeted for application in areas where human lives are at risk,” he said. The startup is specifically exploring opportunities in India in foundries and railways.
U Subba Rao, General Manager of Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, said there are plans to invest ₹500 crore in the next two years in robotic welding automation for making coach shells. The ICF, Chennai, produces 3,000 to 3,500 coaches annually. He urged the Indian manufacturing industries to strive to be globally competitive and supply to markets “that matter”, such as the US and the EU.
According to N Ramesh Kumar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of RIR Power Electronics, the company is investing almost ₹600 crore in Odisha to make silicon carbide devices. The devices used now in small power plants are largely imported from China, he said.
Chairman of Intec 2026, EK Ponnuswamy, said the five-day event at the CODISSIA Trade Fair Complex has more than 700 stalls spread across 2.65 sq.ft and has almost 465 exhibitors. The focus this year is on robotics, AI, IoT, and so on in the manufacturing sector.
Published on June 4, 2026
