They skipped campus placements to help Indian soldiers. Today, their robot is taking on Siachen’s toughest challenge

Three SRM University mechatronics graduates—Vignesh M, Vibhakar Senthil and Karthikeyan B—skipped campus placements to develop indigenous defence technology for Indian soldiers. They founded Torus Robotics in 2019 and created the MARS UGV, an electric unmanned ground vehicle designed for surveillance, logistics and explosive handling in extreme terrains like Siachen Glacier. Recognised by DRDO, iDEX and national innovation programmes, their startup aims to reduce soldiers’ physical burden while strengthening India’s self-reliance in defence technology.