From Coconuts To Hearts – Robotics, The India Way

Humans want to create themselves in the robot. The gap of emotions is shrinking but not in a complete sense. Even Machine Learning depends on how much a robot has learnt

- Pratima H

Robots that care – if that sounds like a paradox, that’s exactly what Dr. Rajesh Kannan Megalingam is after. As an electronics engineer leading research on humanitarian technologies with special emphasis on Robotics at Hut (Humanitarian technology) Labs and Assistant Professor at ECE Department at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, he has been applying his passion and expertise in robotics for many years now. In this lab, Dr. Megalingam and his team have been busy bridging the distance between the brain and the heart. Let’s peel the husk here and find out more about human-centric robots.

Tell us something about the inception of the lab. When did it all begin and how far have you come?

The lab was established to work on projects related to humanity and social causes, the first project was an ‘unmanned Coconut Harvester’. It helped in areas where there was no one to climb the coconut trees and was made to help in harvesting. That’s where we conceived the first robots from our lab. Today we are doing a diverse range of work that covers the broad theme of humanity. We worked on the first self-driving car in India. We worked on research & rescue robots, on service robots, on wearable devices for stroke-patients and some projects with the institutes in the USA. We have worked on assistive robots that can stay at home with elders, bring water and food to them, read books to them and chat with them.

Has this need expanded with the effect of the pandemic?