Anushka: The Budget-Friendly Humanoid Robot from KIET with Advanced AI Capabilities

Anushka is a humanoid robot constructed by scholars and students at the Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh-based Krishna Institute of Engineering and Technology (KIET). Anushka’s primary purpose in her current incarnation is to greet guests and respond with pertinent information when prompted. Anushka’s developers, however, hope to employ her as more than just a robotic receptionist; they see applications for her in consulting and healthcare.

Anushka caused a stir when she was originally presented in March 2024 because she seemed to be the first humanoid robot created in northern India that could move independently. There were also some raised eyebrows when it was said that she was created with the concepts of Veda in mind.

The robot was created on a budget of Rs 2 lakh, according to Dr. Manoj Goel, joint director of KIET. This is a small amount of the Rs 7-8 crore often required to make humanoid robots. Even a nearby garbage yard provided some of the parts.

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Anushka’s flexible silicone skin was created by Madame Tussauds in India, while parts of her face are 3D printed. Notably, generative AI was used to further enhance her facial characteristics, which were modelled after those of a deceased French royal. It took around a year and a half to finish the full job.

Anushka can mimic human actions thanks to the underlying technology, which uses a master-slave architecture. An i7 CPU serves as the brain, controlling a network of servo motors and microcontrollers to move her hands, neck, mouth, eyes, and other body parts.

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Anushka responds to questions precisely by using natural language processing (NLP). A microphone hidden behind her necklace records her voice orders, which are then translated into digital impulses. The robot processes the NLP-translated meaningful data using a Python program and then retrieves the necessary information from a 500-terabyte database that OpenAI, the startup that created the AI chatbot ChatGPT, has bought.

Anushka uses artificial intelligence when she selects the data from OpenAI’s extensive Python library to use, matches words with certain data, and determines how to reciprocate. According to the team, the humanoid was created in a “positive manner,” which was evident in her responses regarding the negative consequences of war.

Additionally, the humanoid has computer vision that has been trained to recognize faces. Anushka can now identify an individual ten meters away from her thanks to a high-definition, 30-megapixel webcam. According to Indian Express, the robot may need two or three sessions to correctly identify a person as someone she has already met.

Since Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) has not yet been attained, humanoid robots like Anushka cannot be truly said to be self-aware. However, that does not imply that she is not intelligent at all.

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“Here, artificial intelligence functions in four stages: listening, observing, and comprehending your image through computer vision; utilizing natural language processing to converse with you in the third stage; and finally, commanding the servo motors to operate in unison. The team stated that each degree of intelligence is essential because, when combined, they guarantee that everything runs properly.

The KIET team of robot developers stated that they are trying to create bipedal robots in addition to enhancing Anushka’s mobility.