India’s robotics scene just got its spotlight moment. PARAM, a fully indigenous robot dog developed by Bengaluru‑based startup General Autonomy, is winning attention online and on the national stage as a genuinely home‑grown technological breakthrough after controversy erupted over another bot allegedly showcased as India’s own.
In February 2026, amid the India AI Impact Summit, social media buzzed not about imported tech, but about a quadruped machine proudly built in India. General Autonomy took to X to introduce PARAM with a bold message: “Not assembled, not bought BUILT IN INDIA, built by INDIANS.” The post quickly went viral, drawing comparisons to a recent debate over a Chinese‑made robot displayed by Galgotias University, which later apologised after netizens flagged the tech as imported.
What makes PARAM stand out is its genuine performance and home‑grown engineering. The 35‑kilogram robot dog runs on hot‑swappable batteries giving roughly eight hours of operation and can sprint up to 3 m/s, leap about 1 metre, and handle stairs of roughly 30 cm all while picking its way over uneven ground. It’s also ruggedly built with an IP67 dust/water resistance rating and responsive autonomous navigation that lets it avoid obstacles and recover from falls without human help.
From Bengaluru streets to national recognition, PARAM demonstrated its mobility in real‑world settings even interacting with a street dog in a viral video and was shown to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a Startup India event celebrating a decade of entrepreneurship in the country.
While PARAM still uses a few foreign components such as the NVIDIA Jetson GPU and specialised actuators the core design, mechanics, control systems, and software are largely Indian developed, underscoring a serious push toward making India self‑reliant in advanced robotics.
General Autonomy says it plans regular updates to PARAM and hopes the robot dog will find practical use in industrial inspection, factory automation, disaster response, and even defence applications as indigenous tech grows more capable. Commercial availability is expected by mid‑2026, marking a potential turning point in India’s deep‑tech journey.
In a tech moment that’s as much about national pride as innovation, PARAM’s rise highlights how “Made in India” is shifting from slogan to reality in the field of advanced robotics.
