A Group of students from the Krishna Institute of Engineering and Technology (KIET), India invented the first ever humanoid robot, Anushka. The most unique creation about this robot is that it has a beating heart quipped inside it making it appear like a normal human being.
A group of students and their professor from Krishna Institute of Engineering and Technology (KIET) in Ghaziabad have created Anushka, North India’s first humanoid robot. Built primarily from junkyard materials with a budget of just ₹2 lakh, this low-cost marvel showcases India’s growing prowess in robotics and AI. Unveiled in March 2024 and inspired by Vedic principles, Anushka’s autonomous capabilities bring India closer to cutting-edge technology.
Discover the basics of Anushka, North India’s groundbreaking first humanoid robot!
The humanoid robot Anushka was developed by the engineering team, scientists team, and AI specialists at the Advanced Robotics Research Centre(ARRC) in Ghaziabad. The robot has a 3D-printed element and silicone skin on its face designed by Madame Tussaud in India. The face of the robot is designed and inspired by the late French princess. Anushka is enhanced using a high level and realism through AI. She is approximately 5 feet and 7 inches tall with a human-like appearance. She can act or move like a normal human being. her head, limbs, and torso are designed to make human-like movements with a high degree of precision i.e. DOF or 40 degrees of freedom. She has facial recognition and expression systems depicting spitting images of human appearance. The robot has an advanced camera and sensor feature that allows it to recognize human faces, and expressions and read emotions. She can also read the facial expressions of other people. This feature will help the robot to easily and naturally interact with people.
She can speak 61 different languages.
The robot is powered by the combustion of AI algorithms. She has the efficiency to store vast data and can learn from her experiences in the environment and improve herself accordingly. She has the natural language processing ability to help her recognize different human languages. She can make over 50 different hand gestures to convey her emotions and interact with humans. She has the ability of real-time face recognition and will greet accordingly. And can easily make 30-eye gestures.
What were the challenges faced during the development of Anushka?
The development of the humanoid robot Anushka brought different challenges including the aspects of robotics engineering, artificial intelligence, and real-world applications.
- One of the toughest challenges in the development of humanoid robots, Anushka was the advanced AI integration system. The robot was designed to be capable of handling the dynamic real-world environment. The team made sure that the robot could respond to different human interactions as well as physical obstacles that did not include any human intervention.
- The robot is designed to understand 61 different languages. And designed with NLP or natural language processing capabilities which was one of the difficult tasks to process in a robot. Understanding and responding to natural human speech can be a difficult task for the robot.
- The robot has a human-like movement and dexterity. Making a robot appear and move like a human has been challenging for the team. They ensured that the robot was capable of performing delicate tasks like picking up objects and mimicking human gestures.
- Real-world adaptation has been one of the difficult challenges faced by the team during the development of the robot. The robot is designed to adapt to real-world activities like learning human interaction and understanding their facial expressions.
- The robot has been designed at the lowest cost possible. The team made sure that the development of the humanoid robot should be cost-efficient as usually, the development brings a lot of financial problems. But the humanoid robot was designed only in Rs. 2 lakh and was mostly designed using junkyard materials.
The first ever humanoid robot Anushka has been a great success for India. As it showcases that India has access to new AI and technologies. North India has made proper use of advanced AI technologies and has taken India to the next level of developing countries. Despite the challenges faced by the team the success of the development of the robot is a significant achievement for India in the robotic and technology field.