A Computer Science teacher at the Kendriya Vidyalaya in IIT Powai has developed a robot named ‘Shalu’ taking inspiration from ‘Sophia’, world’s first-ever AI-powered humanoid.
According to Dinesh Patel, the teacher who built the robot, Shalu is capable of speaking multiple languages and can be used to answer students’ queries.
She can read current news, horoscope and weather reports.
Not just this, it can also display common human emotions like smile and anger and perform gestures like shaking hands and engage in casual social talks.
One of its unique characteristics is that it has apparently entirely been made of of waste material, such as plastic, aluminum, cardboard, etc. that has been discarded. Patel bought all the material from local market deriving inspiration from PM Modi’s Make in India mission.
Shalu can speak 9 Indian and 38 foreign languages. As per Patel, it is the first humanoid robot in the world to speak as many as 9 Indian languages.
Speaking about the robot’s capabilities, Dinesh Patel told IANS:
Shalu can recognize people, display emotions, read a newspaper, recite recipes, and perform many other activities. This can be used as a teacher in schools and as a receptionist in offices too.
Netizens applauded Dinesh Patel for his efforts.
In November 2020, he posted a video on YouTube where we can see Shalu recognising people and talking in different languages.
There’s an entire YouTube channel dedicated to Shalu, the robot. It’s named ‘अपनी RoboShalu’.
You can check out the channel for more updates on the robot and its functioning.
