Feb 19 2011
Students of Bharath University have developed India’s first humanoid robot and won the 'Best performance for Innovation Award' at the 'Spring Innovations’ contest.
The event was organized at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. 66 University teams from several parts of the world participated in the contest.
Dr K P Thooyamani, Vice Chancellor of Bharath University, has stated that their humanoid can perform various activities like singing, dancing, standing upright and grabbing objects. He mentioned that the touch sensors included in the robot’s leg help the robot to identify objects lying on its path. He added that the robot uses the built-in camera for face identification. The height of the robot is 58 cm and it weighs 4.3 kg.
The Bharath University team was formed by 12 students from different fields including Computer Science, ECE and Mechanical engineering. They worked along with 'Roboin', an organization that offers robotics training to school and college students.
According to Jaishankar Bharatharaj, Founder of Roboin, a team of 75 members from the Bharath University would sharpen their proficiency to build a robot that could be deployed in real human environment. The second robot to be developed is a rescue robot, which can navigate in all terrains like desert and snow, climb staircases and travel deep water. The third robot is the one that can play soccer game.
The three robots will be showcased at the Iran Open Robotic contest to be held from April 2 to 5, Singapore Open from April 5 to 9 and also in the World Robotic Championship to be organized in July at Istanbul.