Robot Shalu is a homemade

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

and

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

humanoid robot A humanoid robot is a robot resembling the human body in shape. The design may be for functional purposes, such as interacting with human tools and environments and working alongside humans, for experimental purposes, such as the study of bipeda ...

developed by Dinesh Kunwar Patel, an Indian

Kendriya Vidyalaya The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan () is a system of Government of India, central government schools in India. Governed by the Ministry of Education (India), Ministry of Education, Government of India. , it has a total of 1,257 schools in India, ...

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

teacher from

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. It was built using waste materials.

History

Shalu's creator, Dinesh Patel, cites the 2010 film ''

Enthiran ''Enthiran'' () is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language science fiction action film co-written and directed by S. Shankar. It is the first instalment in the ''Enthiran'' film series. The film stars Rajinikanth in dual lead roles as a scientist and th ...

'' and

Hanson Robotics Hanson Robotics Limited is a Hong Kong–based engineering and robotics company founded by David Hanson, known for its development of human-like robots with artificial intelligence (AI) for consumer, entertainment, service, healthcare, and rese ...

' humanoid robot, Sophia, as his primary motivation for building the robot. He worked on the project for three years. The first version of the robot was introduced to the world on 23 November 2020 through a telecast on

DD News DD News is an Indian state-owned Hindi news television channel, founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It is the flagship channel of Doordarshan. India's only 24-hour terrestrial TV news ...

The robot was made at home using waste materials, as well as

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or Semisynthesis, semisynthetic materials composed primarily of Polymer, polymers. Their defining characteristic, Plasticity (physics), plasticity, allows them to be Injection moulding ...

cardboard Cardboard is a generic term for heavy paper-based products. Their construction can range from a thick paper known as paperboard to corrugated fiberboard, made of multiple plies of material. Natural cardboards can range from grey to light brown ...

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

, newspapers, and other items readily available in the local market. No

3D-printed 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is the Manufacturing, construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design, CAD model or a digital 3D modeling, 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material i ...

components are used, and the cost is low, around

₹ The Indian rupee sign ⟨₹⟩ is the currency symbol for the Indian rupee (ISO 4217: INR), the official currency of India. Designed by D. Udaya Kumar, it was presented to the public by the Government of India on 15 July 2010, following its ...

50,000 (approximately $ or €). Shalu's intelligent software is designed and developed by Patel using

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

libraries like

TensorFlow TensorFlow is a Library (computing), software library for machine learning and artificial intelligence. It can be used across a range of tasks, but is used mainly for Types of artificial neural networks#Training, training and Statistical infer ...

and

NLTK The Natural Language Toolkit, or more commonly NLTK, is a suite of libraries and programs for symbolic and statistical natural language processing (NLP) for English written in the Python programming language. It supports classification, tokeniza ...

. Work on the development of the next version of Robot Shalu is currently in progress. The name "Shalu" is an

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

: 'S' for Scientifically and Technically, 'H' for Highly Reciprocal, 'A' for Advanced Humanoid, 'L' for Language Communicator, and 'U' for Uniquely Designed. Together, it stands for a Scientifically Designed, Uniquely and Highly Advanced Language Communicator Humanoid.

Features

It is reported that Shalu can speak 9 Indian languages (

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri may refer to: * Bhojpuri language, an Indo-Aryan language of India and Nepal * Bhojpuri grammar, grammatical rules of the language * Bhojpuri nouns, nouns of the language * Bhojpuri people, people who speak the language * Bhojpuri region ...

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, Guajarati,

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, Nepali) and 38 foreign languages (including

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

, and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

). Shalu can recognize and remember people, as well as identify many common objects. She can understand human

emotion Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavior, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is ...

s such as

anger Anger, also known as wrath ( ; ) or rage (emotion), rage, is an intense emotional state involving a strong, uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, hurt, or threat. A person experiencing anger will often experie ...

happiness Happiness is a complex and multifaceted emotion that encompasses a range of positive feelings, from contentment to intense joy. It is often associated with positive life experiences, such as achieving goals, spending time with loved ones, ...

laughter Laughter is a pleasant physical reaction and emotion consisting usually of rhythmical, usually audible contractions of the diaphragm and other parts of the respiratory system. It is a response to certain external or internal stimuli. Laug ...

, and

jealousy Jealousy generally refers to the thoughts or feelings of Emotional insecurity, insecurity, fear, and concern over a relative lack of possessions or safety. Jealousy can consist of one or more emotions such as anger, resentment, inadequacy, he ...

, and respond accordingly. Shalu can greet people, shake hands, and recite

poems Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

. She can answer factual questions and engage in casual

conversation Conversation is interactive communication between two or more people. The development of conversational skills and etiquette is an important part of socialization. The development of conversational skills in a new language is a frequent focus ...

s based on a script, using artificial intelligence to understand the meaning of the conversation. She can also solve simple

math Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

problems. Additionally, Shalu can conduct verbal

quiz A quiz is a form of mind sport in which people attempt to answer questions correctly on one or several topics. Quizzes can be used as a brief Educational assessment, assessment in education and similar fields to measure growth in knowledge, abil ...

zes and

interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" re ...

s, forecast the weather for the current and next 10 days for any location, read out

horoscope A horoscope (or other commonly used names for the horoscope in English include natal chart, astrological chart, astro-chart, celestial map, sky-map, star-chart, cosmogram, vitasphere, radical chart, radix, chart wheel or simply chart) is an ast ...

s based on the date of birth, and provide current news,

recipe A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish (food), dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main r ...

book review A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is merely described (summary review) or analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review may be a primary source, an opinion piece, a summary review, or a scholarly view. B ...

s, movies reviews and product descriptions. Shalu can be used as a robot

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

s to give lectures in the classroom based on an uploaded PowerPoint presentation developed by a human teacher. She can answer students' queries, ask them questions, and assess the correctness of their answers. She can also work as a

receptionist A receptionist is an Employment, employee taking an office or Business administration, administrative support position. The work is usually performed in a waiting room, waiting area such as a Lobby (room), lobby or front office desk of an organ ...

, responding to customer queries verbally, as well as via

email Electronic mail (usually shortened to email; alternatively hyphenated e-mail) is a method of transmitting and receiving Digital media, digital messages using electronics, electronic devices over a computer network. It was conceived in the ...

and

SMS Short Message Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile phones exchange short text messages, t ...

. Additionally, she can serve as a talking companion for senior citizens and a learning companion for young children.

Reception

Robot Shalu is dedicated to the Indian "

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP), also known as Save the Daughter, Educate the Daughter Scheme is a flagship social campaign of the Government of India launched on 22 January 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Panipat, Haryana. The scheme aims ...

" mission, and this creation is a small step toward an

Atmanirbhar Bharat Atmanirbhar Bharat () is a phrase popularized by Prime Minister of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his administration, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, for economic self-sufficiency and national development during a pandemic. The term ...

and

Digital India Digital India is a campaign launched by the Government of India to make its services available to citizens electronically via improved online infrastructure and by increasing Internet connectivity. The initiative includes plans to connect ru ...

Mission.

In education

Robot Shalu has been included in the syllabus for the

Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

subject for class 9 by the CBSE (

Central Board of Secondary Education The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is a national-level board of education in India for public and private schools, controlled and managed by the Government of India. Established in 1929 by a resolution of the government, the Board ...

) and in the computer science syllabus for class 6 by

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan () is a system of central government schools in India. Governed by the Ministry of Education, Government of India. , it has a total of 1,257 schools in India, and three abroad, in Kathmandu, Moscow and Tehran. ...

. Shalu is the world's first robot teacher to teach more than 6 subjects in 47 different languages. Currently, she is teaching classes 6 to 11 at a

in Mumbai, India. Robot Shalu's teaching in the classroom has been inspected by the school's principal, who expressed that the use of technology in education will enhance the Teaching-Learning Process (TLP) and lead to better learning outcomes.

Awards

On 25 March 2021, Robot Shalu and her creator, Dinesh Patel, were awarded the "

Jagran Josh Jagran Josh is an Indian website that covers topics related to education, employment, and competitive examinations. It includes content on current affairs, general knowledge, exam notifications, results, and study materials for exams such as Ban ...

Education Award 2021" for

Innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or service (economics), services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a n ...

Science and Technology Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of ...

by Jagranjosh.com. The award was presented by the

Education Minister An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

of India, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank'.

References

{{Reflist Humanoid robots 2020 in India Social robots Educational robots Robots of India