In a first-of-its-kind, students of KLE Technological University (KLETU) have developed a humanoid robot, specifically aimed at extending a helping hand to banking customers.
Named Maya, the humanoid robot has been developed by students of Automation and Robotics of KLETU Prithiv Deshpande and Alwin M., along with research assistants Abhijit Sampthkrishna and Kartik Lakamanhalli under the guidance of Assistant Professors Ashwini G.K. and Sridhar Doddamani and Head of the Department Professor Arun Giriyapur.
The students told presspersons in Hubballi on Friday that based on the requirement of the bank, which had approached them for a robotic platform, they had developed the humanoid robot which can be deployed on any flat surface.
“The bank has the software ready but wanted us to develop a robotic platform. Under the sponsored project we have developed Maya which will help address customer needs. When it experiences power shortage, it goes to the charging point and charges the battery on its own,” they explained.
The robot has been developed to provide better customer service in banks. The robot has chatbot, face recognition, automatic docking after discharge and computer programmes powered by artificial intelligence which can imitate conversations such as a human using different regional languages.
Developed under a sponsored project at a total cost of ₹ 5 lakh, Maya weighs 15 kg with battery backup of eight-10 hours with the capability of interpreting various queries. It took nearly eight months of work for the team to get Maya ready.
The team members said that there is still scope for further development and based on response from customers on the humanoid robot’s functioning, further additions or improvements can be done. According to Prof. Arun Giriyapur, positive response from customers can lead to further deployment of humanoid robots in various locations.
The team members said that the basic algorithm of the humanoid robot was developed by them and they have avoided complicated mechanism to make it simple.
