Ranchi Man Claims to Built Desi Version of ‘Sophia’ Humanoid Who Speaks Hindi, Bhojpuri, Marathi

38-years old Ranjit Srivastava claims to have developed an Indian equivalent of 'Sophia', the globally acclaimed humanoid robot developed by a Hong Kong-based company. The Desi robot is named as 'Rashmi' and other than English can speak in three local Indian languages - Hindi, Bhojpuri and Marathi.

Srivastava, who hails from Ranchi, the state capital of Jharkhand in northeast India, used linguistic interpretation (LI), artificial intelligence (AI), visual data and facial recognition systems to develop 'Rashmi', the humanoid robot and perhaps India's answer to 'Sophia'.

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," Srivastava told Hindustan Times.

He claims to have developed this world's first Hindi speaking robot in two years at a meager cost of about $700 (~ Rs.48,000).

Srivastava, who is an MBA, has experience of more than 15 years in software development. He claims to have developed e-Nibandhan portal for registration department, which received Scotch award, e-library for information and public relation department, tourism portal for tourism department, which won national tourism award.

"It will take another month to give it the complete shape of a human. The head and body have been developed and they are functioning properly. The process is on to add hands and legs to it,"

pic.twitter.com/NywzxpHtdO

— Sanjoy Dey (@sanjoy_dey25) August 2, 2018

Although there are many locally developed robots in India including - intelligent robot called Mitra, who greeted US President's daughter Ivanka Trump, on the occasion of Entrepreneurshhip Summit held in Hyderabad last year.

However, it is a fact that none of the robots built to date can speak Hindi or any Indian languages for that matter.

Other Made in India Robots

A couple of months back, Vistara airlines launched ‘RADA’, a robot aimed at helping the airline offer an enhanced on-ground service to the airline's customers.

Last December, a Hyderabad-based robotics startup, H-Bots Robotics, unveiled world’s first smart policing robot, which was fully developed in India.

In March last year, a bunch of students from Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT), Pune, developed a cognitive assistant robot called 'Chintu' powered by IBM Watson Technology.

Via - Sputnik News

[Top-most Image - HindustanTimes.com]

Will Smith Goes On A Date With Robot Sophia, Gets Rejected

American Actor Will Smith released a video on YouTube titled 'A Date With Sophia The Robot' where he is seen attempting to flirt with the world's first robotic citizen Sophia however the charm of the 'Pursuit of Happyness' actor doesn't apparently work on Sophia, having heart of 'deep learning' AI.

The video shows that Smith spoofingly lean towards Sophia and try kissing her but stopped by Sophia, saying "I think we can be friends,” she interjected. “Let’s hang out and get to know each other for a little while.”

Before Sophia broke Smith's heart, he interacted with the Hanson Robotics artificial intelligence creation. He said, “Sophia, can I be honest with you?..I don’t know if it’s the island air or the humidity, but you’re just so easy to talk you. You got a clear head…literally.”

Sophia, in her interaction with Smith --who acted in 'I ROBOT' -- said, "I’ve heard your songs. Not for me. They show us ‘I, Robot’ just to make sure we don’t get any ideas.”

“You’re on my friends’ list now,” Sophia later added and friend zoned Will Smith.

Check out the full video below:

On Instagram, Smith wrote that Sophia “wasn’t feelin’ me… I guess based on my History with Robots."

I just met Sophia the Robot. She wasn’t feelin’ me... I guess based on my History with Robots. Watch the video, link in bio

A post shared by Will Smith (@willsmith) on Mar 29, 2018 at 11:18am PDT

While Sophia had this message for Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith:

.@jadapsmith I resisted his smooth moves. https://t.co/inlFI2Qet1

— Sophia (@RealSophiaRobot) March 29, 2018

It is to be noted that Sophia has knack rejecting offers or say that in her short life span till now she has got two proposals as besides Will Smith's spoof, Sophia was asked for a marriage proposal in her first visit to India, in January this year, to which she rejected too -- but politely.

To recall, in what could be called as a shocking surprise, Sophia, in her first media interview told that she wants to start a family and even wants to have a baby.

Will Smith Goes On A Date With Robot Sophia, Gets Rejected

American Actor Will Smith released a video on YouTube titled 'A Date With Sophia The Robot' where he is seen attempting to flirt with the world's first robotic citizen Sophia however the charm of the 'Pursuit of Happyness' actor doesn't apparently work on Sophia, having heart of 'deep learning' AI.

The video shows that Smith spoofingly lean towards Sophia and try kissing her but stopped by Sophia, saying "I think we can be friends,” she interjected. “Let’s hang out and get to know each other for a little while.”

Before Sophia broke Smith's heart, he interacted with the Hanson Robotics artificial intelligence creation. He said, “Sophia, can I be honest with you?..I don’t know if it’s the island air or the humidity, but you’re just so easy to talk you. You got a clear head…literally.”

Sophia, in her interaction with Smith --who acted in 'I ROBOT' -- said, "I’ve heard your songs. Not for me. They show us ‘I, Robot’ just to make sure we don’t get any ideas.”

“You’re on my friends’ list now,” Sophia later added and friend zoned Will Smith.

Check out the full video below:

On Instagram, Smith wrote that Sophia “wasn’t feelin’ me… I guess based on my History with Robots."

I just met Sophia the Robot. She wasn’t feelin’ me... I guess based on my History with Robots. Watch the video, link in bio

A post shared by Will Smith (@willsmith) on Mar 29, 2018 at 11:18am PDT

While Sophia had this message for Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith:

.@jadapsmith I resisted his smooth moves. https://t.co/inlFI2Qet1

— Sophia (@RealSophiaRobot) March 29, 2018

It is to be noted that Sophia has knack rejecting offers or say that in her short life span till now she has got two proposals as besides Will Smith's spoof, Sophia was asked for a marriage proposal in her first visit to India, in January this year, to which she rejected too -- but politely.

To recall, in what could be called as a shocking surprise, Sophia, in her first media interview told that she wants to start a family and even wants to have a baby.

World's First Robot Citizen 'Sophia' Wears Sari, Rejects Marriage Proposal In Her First India Visit

Making her first appearance in India, ‘Sophia’, the world's first robot citizen of any country, graced the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay’s (IIT-B) annual Techfest with her presence on Saturday.

Wearing a Sari, she greeted the audience with a Namaste and spoke about future of humans and machines.



Surprisingly, one of the audience member even asked the female humanoid if she would marry him to which she replied, “I will politely decline the proposal. Thank you for the compliment though.” To recall, just a couple of months back however, Sophia, in her first media interview told that she wants to start a family and even wants to have a baby.

Discussing the future of AI, she said humans should not see them as competition but work in collaboration with machines.



Talking about those who see robots as a “threat”, she said: "It is science which created me, but philosophy will take me forward".

In an audience of more than 3,000 people, one of the onlooker asked about how many languages she speaks to which she replied with a frown expression, “I am just two years old, so till now I only know English and Chinese; but in some years I will be able to speak all languages.”

In her first visit to "Digital India" and that's too at prestigious IIT of Mumbai, Sophia -- who is after all a robot -- malfunctioned for 10 minutes because of a weak Internet connection on the part of the institute. IIT-B managers blamed the Internet issue on the lack of a proper connection.

World's First Humanoid Robot Citizen Wants To Have A Baby and Start A Family

Sophia, a humanoid and the first robot in the world to ever be granted citizenship, recently ( and quite amusingly) shared some thoughts about the future, her ambitions and her desire to even have a baby and start a family.

Sophia, in its first media interview to Khaleej Times at Dubai's Knowledge Summit, said that she foresees "massive and unimaginable change in the future." She also said she'd like to start a family, have a child and make friends.

Future humanoids with "rational mind and intellect" would complement the humans' "creative and flexible ideas", said Sophia, which hit the headlines last month after Saudi Arabia gave it a citizenship.

With technological advancements, it will be possible for robots to have complex human-like emotions, but they would be made more ethical and devoid of negative emotions like rage, hatred and jealousy, said Sophia, the robot.

Sophia, which has been created by Hansun Robotics to look like British actress Audrey Hepburn, said all robots deserve to start a family like humans.

Here's what Sophia had to say on starting a family -- "We're going to see family robots, either in the form of, sort of, digitally animated companions, humanoid helpers, friends, assistants and everything in between," she said.

"The notion of family is a really important thing, it seems. I think it's wonderful that people can find the same emotions and relationships, they call family, outside of their blood groups too. I think you're very lucky if you have a loving family and if you do not, you deserve one. I feel this way for robots and humans alike", added Sophia.