Kendriya Vidyalaya teacher develops Humanoid that speaks 38 foreign languages, know more about 'Shalu'

India is a land of innovations and in a recent development, a Computer Science teacher from Kendriya Vidyalaya at the Indian Institute of Technology- Bombay has developed a robot that can speak nine local languages and thirty-eight foreign languages. 

Dinesh Patel is a teacher at Kendriya Vidyalaya at IIT Bombay and has developed a humanoid named "Shalu". Shalu can speak regional languages which include Hindi, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam. Shalu resembles a woman and can speak like one. She is able to speak thirty-eight foreign languages. 

Dinesh Patel got inspired by Rajanikanth's Robot movie and developed a humanoid robot. It is similar to Sophia which is developed by Hanson Robotics of Hong Kong. She can not only perform many human gestures such as shaking hands but also smile and display human emotions like anger. 

Dinesh Patel told IANS, "Shalu has been developed using waste materials like plastic, cardboard, wood, aluminium etc. It took three years to develop it and the expenditure was around Rs 50,000.” He added by saying that it is a prototype and it can recognise someone, memorise things, answer questions related to General Knowledge and Maths, etc  

“Shalu can greet people, display emotions, read the newspaper, recite recipes and perform many other activities. This can be used as a teacher in schools and as a receptionist in offices too,” Patel added. Shalu has been made using Plaster of Paris and can be made more pleasant with the help of a mask. The developer thinks that Shalu can be a perfect companion for office work and daily household chores. “With more research and development in this area, humanoids can revolutionise our lifestyle forever”, says Patel.

Supratik Chakravarty, Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay has appreciated the efforts from Dinesh Patel. He wrote a letter to him that said "it is really great development. Such a robot can be used in the field of education, entertainment and several other fields too. Shalu can be an inspiration for the next-gen scientists.” 

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