Kerala - Others   

Robots to share and care

G. Krishnakumar

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY: Robots playing football at the robotics show organised by the National University of Singapore at Model Engineering College, Trikkakara, on Friday.

KOCHI. Can a robot be a friend in need? Prahlad Vadakkepat, a Singapore-based Keralite, is engaged in making this dream a reality. Renowned robotic researcher and faculty member of the National University of Singapore, Dr. Vadakkepat believes ongoing research might help in creating robots that can "interact and share emotions" with humans. "Robots that can help the needy and the physically challenged will be of immense help in this age of nuclear families," he told The Hindu in an interview here on Friday.

Founder secretary of the Federation of International Robot-soccer Association (FIRA), Dr. Vadakkepat is in Kerala to popularise robot soccer among the young scientific talents here. For starters, robot soccer is a war game of advanced robot technology within a confined space. "It is a test bed for engineers to come up with new algorithms to make robots cooperate like real players in a football match. It is like having small robots with certain capabilities." For the Indian tour, Dr. Vadakkepat has brought three humanoids. His humanoid robot and robot soccer teams have won several international prizes. "Two of these robots can play football against one another. A robot can approach a ball and position it by balancing on one leg.

The other robot will be the goalkeeper. It will identify in which direction the ball would come. The new robot, which we are exhibiting, has two hands. It can also stand on a leg. Our actual aim is to make it run. We are not yet there," he said.

Asked when robots would take on humans in a football match, Dr. Vadakkepat said some have set a deadline of 2050. "Many others are sceptical. It is very difficult to have the capabilities of our hands and other organs in a robot.

Humans have a sense of feeling. Our brain is can extract features quickly. We have a long way to go before having a silicon-based brain and integrating various genetic qualities of human beings in robots," he said. Unveiling the exciting avenues opening up in robotics research, Dr. Vadakkepat said researchers are trying to make robots `cooperate better'. Referring to the use of robots in removing mines in war-ravaged countries, he said only one robot would be able to remove land mines in an area. "Think about multiple robots. Humans have the natural ability not to look at the same place for a landmine. We have to think of how to impart such capabilities in multiple robots trying to remove mines placed in an area. We need to share data. They should be able to communicate. Instead of network computers sitting in a place, these robots can be considered as networked moving computers," he said.

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