Junk genius: Students build humanoid robot with a ‘beating heart’ from scrap

An engineering institute in India has developed a low-cost humanoid robot with many of its parts taken from the dumpyard.

Named Anushka, the robot’s intelligence component is reportedly inspired by Vedic principles and claims to be the first to feature a beating heart.

The robot was developed by a team of five students and professors at the Krishna Institute of Engineering and Technology (KIET) in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

The makers claim that the robot only costs around $2,400 (2 lakh rupees), which is significantly lower when compared to other models on offer.

Currently, Anushka’s role is to welcome guests and answer their queries, offering helpful information. However, researchers aim to expand her capabilities beyond those of a robotic receptionist, exploring potential healthcare and consulting services applications.

Low-cost design

Anushka was developed with an exceptionally low budget, far below the typical costs associated with creating humanoid robots.

Remarkably, some of her components were sourced from a local junkyard. Her facial features are a mix of advanced technology and artistry, featuring 3D-printed parts and a flexible silicone skin crafted by the Madame Tussauds team in India, reports PC Tablet .

Interestingly, the design of her face draws inspiration from a historical French princess and is refined further with generative AI .

Her movement capabilities are based on a master-slave architecture, where an Intel i7 processor serves as the central processing unit. This powerful processor manages microcontrollers and servo motors to enable fluid movements.

For communication, Anushka relies on natural language processing (NLP) to interpret and respond to spoken commands. These voice commands are transformed into digital signals and processed using Python.

The data used for her responses is drawn from an extensive database obtained from OpenAI, enabling her to interact with a high degree of sophistication.

Furthermore, Anushka’s AI selects relevant data from OpenAI’s library, programmed with an optimistic outlook on topics like war. Equipped with facial recognition and computer vision, Anushka displays intelligence in listening, understanding, communicating, and coordinating her movements.

Multilingual AI in action

Anuskha offers speech capabilities in 61 languages and features 50 hand gestures to communicate and interact with its users.

Computer vision helps the wheeled robot to recognize faces and objects and follow its humans to carry out different tasks. Over 30 eye gestures are also included, which helps the humanoid convey emotions to its users.

Anushka can also notify its pre-programmed handlers of any distress, such as low battery or malfunction, by making a phone call or sending a text message.

The ingenious robot Anuskha follows India’s first sari-donning AI humanoid robot teacher that was unveiled in the southern state of Kerala.

Named Iris, it was developed by a firm called Makerlabs Edutech, exclusively for teaching purposes.

Iris is a multilingual AI tutor who may help with interactive education, provide individualized voice support, and respond to challenging questions in a range of subject areas. Iris also includes wheels for better mobility, which contributes to an interactive and interesting learning environment.

The humanoid also has the ability to cater to different learning styles, customize lessons, and increase student participation in the classroom.