Ranchi Man Develops First Hindi Speaking Humanoid Robot ‘Rashmi’, Lauded By Experts

The question about what makes us human has been in our minds for a long time. The concept of artificial intelligence has been explored in books by Phillip K. Dick, Arthur C. Clarke and William Gibson or in movies like ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Ex Machina’ and ‘Her’. But as we pass through the 21st century, those fictional stories are slowly becoming a reality. First it was Hong Kong’s Sophia that boggled everyone’s minds. Now, it’s going to be India’s Rashmi.

According to Hindustan Times, Ranjit Srivastava from Ranchi has developed India’s very own humanoid robot, Rashmi which is capable of speaking in Hindi, Bhojpuri, Marathi and English. While talking about how she works, Ranjit said,

“Rashmi functions under a specially designed software and linguistic interpretation system developed by me. The LI programme analyses the feeling of the conversation while AI program analyses the conversation to extract the response from the device.”

Ranjit claims that Rashmi is the world’s first Hindi speaking humanoid robot and India’s first lip-syncing robot. Just like Sophia, Rashmi uses linguistic interpretation (LI), artificial intelligence, visual date and facial recognition systems to act like a human.

Take a look at Rashmi in action:

If you’re a little freaked out by its initial design, don’t worry. Rashmi is still a work in progress and will get a complete body in no time.

“It will take one month more to give it complete shape of a human. Head and body have been developed and they are functioning properly. Process is on to add hands and legs to it.”

Srivastava says that the robot has many other features besides the lip-syncing. It can give facial, eye, lips and eyebrow expression and it can move its neck as well. And he thinks she’s the future.

“Humanoid robot is the need of future generation. It can work as bank receptionist, helper, friend of lonely people and others.”

Srivastava’s inspiration to create Rashmi obviously came from Sophia. And his achievement is now getting appreciation from experts like Dr. Somnath Chattopadhyaya, associate professor of IIT-Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad.

“I have not heard of any Hindi speaking robot in India. Though I have not seen the robot, it is incredible if it was developed.”

Srivastava first saw Sophia in July 2016. That was when he had the idea to build a similar desi model. And within two years and a budget of ₹ 50,000 he has developed something monumental. Now if that’s not crazy and awesome, I don’t know what is.

For science-fictions, this is probably one of the best times to live in because they’re getting to see all their dreams turn into reality. As for, Ranjit Srivastava, he’s about to make history with Rashmi. That’s why I hope that he keeps doing what he’s doing and makes Rashmi’s debut on the international stage with a big bang.