Rented telepresence robots that let far-away children drop in on parents
TL;DR Wickerly rents a simple telepresence robot to families whose parents live alone in India. A son in Pune or a daughter in Dubai can drive it from the kitchen to the balcony during agreed hours. The adult child pays a monthly fee that covers installation, a parent briefing and home service visits.
About 5.7% of Indians over 60 live alone, and the share is higher among women[1]. With 149 million people over 60 in 2022 and a projection of 347 million by 2050[2], that's a big group, and many more live with only a spouse while their children work in another city or country.
Video calls help, but only if the parent picks up, holds the phone steady and knows which button to press. So the child gets a face on a screen and very little sense of how the home is actually running - is the fridge stocked, are the medicines where they should be, is Mum moving around easily?
The seed pitched an AI companion robot that solves isolation and care gaps. I reframed it, because the evidence for robots as companions is thin and care gaps need people. What does have early support is a robot that family members drive themselves. A two-month Canadian study in five care homes found caregiver burden dropped after families used telepresence robots, though the study had no control group[3].
So Wickerly sells presence, not companionship. The robot is a tablet on a slim wheeled pole. The parent never has to answer anything - the child books a visit slot, the robot chimes, and the child steers it through the home to chat, watch a cooking demonstration or read a pill box label. A privacy switch on the robot and visiting hours that the parent sets keep the older person in charge. Wickerly installs it, briefs the parent in person, and sends a technician when it gets stuck on a rug (which it will).
It makes no health claims and records nothing by default.
The user is the parent. The payer is the adult child, often earning in a metro or abroad and already spending on eldercare, where one eldercare company's memberships run ₹1,999–10,999 a month[4]. My working assumption is a rental of ₹2,500–4,000 a month on a 12-month term, which beats an upfront purchase that would otherwise come close to ₹3.9 lakh for an imported home robot (US$3,999)[5].
Telepresence robots have become sturdier and cheaper, with self-driving help that stops untrained drivers from bumping into walls. Home Wi-Fi and fibre now reach a lot of older urban homes. Radio approval for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices is a ₹10,000 self-declaration per model[6], and the DPDP Act sets out the consent duties, so the rules are clear.
There's no public figure for spending on remote-presence devices for Indian seniors. The firm numbers are population ones - 5.7% of over-60s living alone[1] and families paying ₹1,999–10,999 a month for eldercare plans[4].
Treat the real buyer pool as unknown until you count NRI and metro families in your launch city.
One startup tried a version of this in India back in 2009, pairing remote-care software with a ₹14,850 Wi-Fi camera robot and a ₹1,750 yearly subscription[7]. I found no sign it's still running. Abroad, several makers sell telepresence robots for homes and offices, priced as purchases rather than rentals. Indian eldercare companies sell care managers and alert buttons. The gap is a rented, serviced robot sold specifically to distant children.
| Difficulty | Moderate (38/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹40–75 L |
| Time to launch | 5–8 months |
You can source the robot rather than build it. The hard parts are reliability in Indian homes, with thresholds, rugs, power cuts and patchy Wi-Fi, and a field team that fixes a stuck unit within a day. Sales are slow too, because you sell to a child but have to win over a parent.
No sector licence covers a telepresence robot rental, as long as you stay out of health claims. A few approvals still apply.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI read health or mood into what the camera sees. Wickerly makes no health claims, and a model guessing at an older person's wellbeing would break that promise.
Want to work out the AI layer for Wickerly? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I like this for a founder who can run a small rental and field-service business and has patience with families. If you're hoping to build AI companions then this is not your idea. First prove that families still drive the robot at least three times a week in month three, and that parents keep it switched on.
Plan for roughly ₹40–75 L over 5–8 months, mostly on sourced robots, installation and a field team that can fix a stuck unit within a day.
No sector licence. You need WPC type approval for the radios, DPDP consent from the parent, GST and company registration. Avoid health features, or medical-device rules apply.
Yes, wherever adult children live far from ageing parents. Check local radio approval and data protection rules before you ship units.
The free Wickerly validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the radio and data-protection checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for families and parents, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Wickerly or something close to it? The make-or-break question is whether families keep using it after the first month, so test retention before you buy a single unit of stock. I'm happy to help you design that test. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.