How Flo Mobility Is Transforming Construction with Vision-AI Robots That Flow

Flo Mobility: Building Robots That Flow, Not Just Move

Founded in 2021, Flo Mobility is changing how construction automation works by creating vision-AI robots that move smoothly through complex sites. The company focuses on robots that integrate naturally into workflows, making construction processes more efficient and reliable.

Why the Name Flo Mobility?

The name reflects the company's goal: robots that don’t just move but flow seamlessly within their environment. While “flow” captured that idea perfectly, the domain name flowmobility.com was taken. Choosing “Flo” made the brand distinctive and easy to remember, capturing the vision of smooth, autonomous mobility in construction.

The Motivation Behind Flo Mobility

The founder, Manesh Jain, saw that while many industries were adopting automation, construction remained largely manual and outdated. After leaving Reliance in 2020 and studying robotics, he recognized a gap where automation could bring real value—particularly in construction, agriculture, and mining. Flo Mobility was born to fill that gap with smart, autonomous robots.

The Core Technology: Vision-AI and LiDAR-Free Navigation

Flo Mobility builds robots that don’t replace traditional heavy machinery but introduce new types of machines like painting or wall-finishing robots. The secret lies in their AI system, which uses cameras instead of LiDAR as the primary sensor.

Cameras offer richer contextual data at a lower cost—about Rs 80,000-1 lakh compared to Rs 2.5-3 lakh for LiDAR. While LiDAR maps the environment with point clouds, cameras can identify objects and actions, such as whether a cow is grazing or moving. This level of detail is crucial for construction sites where visual quality matters.

Although vision AI requires extensive data and training, Flo Mobility invests heavily in collecting real-world construction site data to improve accuracy and reliability.

Product Evolution Across Construction and Logistics

Flo Mobility started with remote-controlled systems, progressed to semi-autonomous, and now offers fully autonomous robots. The hardware has improved with better actuators, gearboxes, and sensors. Continuous data from the field allows regular retraining of AI models and enhancements in mechanics and control systems.

Funding and Growth

The company has raised around Rs 7 crore from angel investors and venture capitalists. A key investor is ArtPark, the robotics incubator at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), which validated the company’s technology. Other investors include JITO Angels and stakeholders from the construction and real estate sectors.

These partnerships provide not only funding but also access to customers and valuable product feedback. Flo Mobility is scaling up operations in India and preparing for international deployment in the Middle East, with plans to enter the US market.

Challenges on Indian Construction Sites

Indian construction sites are highly dynamic and unstructured. Paths can be clear one day and blocked the next, making fixed workflows and navigation paths impractical. Flo Mobility addresses this with adaptive AI that learns from real-world scenarios, allowing robots to adjust and respond to changing conditions in real time.

Deployment Across Various Segments

• High-rise residential projects
• Data centres
• Hospitals
• Airports, including near Visakhapatnam
• Pre-cast plants
• Malls and office spaces

While metros and bridges are yet to be covered, their technology applies broadly wherever manual material handling is involved—improving productivity across multiple workflows.

The Future of Autonomous Mobility in Construction

Two key trends are shaping this future:

• Electrification: Loaders and excavators are shifting from internal combustion engines to electric drives.
• Driverless operations: Once machines are electric, making them autonomous becomes feasible.

Flo Mobility envisions robots handling repetitive, low-value tasks like moving bricks or painting walls. This shift will allow human workers to focus on planning and quality assurance, improving overall efficiency and safety.

“We aim to build robots that can deliver high-quality outcomes faster, more safely, and at a lower cost.”