India, Aug. 4 -- In July 2025, two field operators working with Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) died after they were exposed to hazardous vapours while investigating a malfunction in a storage tank.

This is the morbid reality that many face during regular inspections. And this barely scrapes the surface. From a ship's ballast compartments to offshore structures, inspection workers often face other significant risks too - falls, exposure to toxic gases and oxygen-deficient environments.

Having witnessed several casualties during industrial inspections, Ishan Bhatnagar and Gulshan Kumar decided that it was time to put a stop to these life-claiming incidents. They banded together and started Octobotics in 2020 to solve...