Posted by Mumbai: ICICI Bank has deployed industrial ‘robotic arms’ to digitise operations at its currency chests.
The bank claimed to be the first commercial bank in India and among few globally to customise and deploy industrial robots to automate and perform repetitive high volume steps in handling cash processing on high-end note sorting machines.
These robotic arms now help sort over six million notes every working day and 1.8 billion annually.
These arms have made the note sorting process frictionless and completely mechanised, leading to higher accuracy and even added flexibility to handle larger volumes continuously. It has also enabled the personnel to focus more on value-added and supervisory functions.
These robotic arms have been deployed at the bank’s currency chests located in 12 cities namely New Delhi, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Sangli, Mangaluru, Raipur, Siliguri and Varanasi.
“We have created new paradigms in the financial services industry by taking the lead in introducing path breaking innovations including internet banking, mobile banking, deployment of Blockchain for remittances and Software Robotics,” said Anubhuti Sanghai, Head – Operations & Customer Service, ICICI Bank.
“It is yet another proud moment for us as we are the first bank in the country and among few globally to customise and deploy the technology of industrial robotic arms for currency sorting. We have undertaken a large deployment of 14 industrial robotic arms at our prominent currency chests across 12 cities to digitise the currency sorting process. We will continue to invest in further mechanisation of note sorting technology and the next generation machines across all our currency chests,” added Sanghai.
The implemented industrial robotics arms in the bank’s currency chests have been customised to meet the requirements and functions explained here.
In pursuance of the RBI‘s ‘Clean Note Policy’ — banks operate currency chests, where cash collected from branches and authorised doorstep cash handling agencies is sorted on high-end note-sorting machines and is re-sent to branches/ATMs for dispensing to customers.
At ICICI Bank, each industrial robotic arm feeds unprocessed cash in three high-end note-sorting machines simultaneously, picks up processed cash from the output stackers, aligns the loose notes, binds the packets and finally drops them in the respective trays as per quality of the note.
The robotic arms use a combination of sensors to check over 70 parameters within seconds that enable them to operate continuously and seamlessly without any break.
The plan to deploy robotics arms at currency chests is part of bank’s recently technology-led innovative services initiatives, which includes the introduction of Software Robotics to power banking operations and its implementation of Blockchain to enable cross-border remittances.
(Image source – ICICI Bank)