And his efforts are paying off, as great interest has been shown in his first robot, for which he has applied for rights protection – with plans to put it on the market at the end of this year.

“After introducing our industrial robot early this year, we got pre-orders for more than 100 robots that will be delivered to customers towards the end of the year, after we get intellectual property rights protection and we commence manufacturing,” Arun, executive manager of RST Robotics Co Ltd, said during an interview with The Nation early this week.

He started R&D work on a robot for the industrial sector in 2011, spending Bt10 million of his savings on the project.

“We saw that there was demand for robots for small and medium-sized industrial use, but such companies could not afford the robots already on sale in the market, because of their price and the fact that they were larger than what SME businesses actually required.

“As a result, we decided to research and develop a small robot to serve demand among small and medium-sized industrial users, especially for welding, picking up and placing, and painting. Such a robot can serve all sorts of industries, and especially the auto sector,” he said.

Four years after starting the R&D work, RST Robotics successfully built its first robot for welding, for which it has applied for rights protection from the Intellectual Property Department of the Commerce Ministry.

The company now plans to invest Bt50 million on constructing a manufacturing plant, so that it can commence sales to the first 100 customers eagerly awaiting its robot.

The pre-orders for the robot, which costs around Bt1 million apiece, were placed after the company introduced it to the market at the “Start-up Thailand 2016” event in April, Arun said.

“We are negotiating with the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand to get a loan, or it may be that the institution will invest in the company under a joint-venture strategy,” he said.

Aside from the welding robot, the company’s robots for picking up/placing and painting for the auto industry will be launched at the end of the year, he added.

The executive manager said his business strategy had shifted dramatically over the past five years from the distribution of contractors’ trucks to the ownership of robot technology, as such technology ownership meant the business could achieve sustainable growth for the long term.

“Research and development of our own technology offers the challenge to drive business growth not only in the domestic market but also to expand to overseas markets, as this is the time for innovation and technology rather than being just a trading business,” Arun said.