THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While walking inside the premises of the Jawahar Balabhavan, Arunima was startled- a four-legged, unknown thing walked towards her. At a time when dog bite issues are on the rise, she was somewhat relieved when she understood that it was a robo-dog, controlled by another human.
The Liberate Festival of Knowledge, Technology and Society, held at Jawahar Balabhavan here, was home to several intriguing elements like the Unitree Go2 robo-dog exhibited by the Kerala Startup Mission here.
Though curious about the robo-dog, a college student, Sandra, was still reluctant to move towards it. When the dog made a jump, she too jumped out of fear. Other visitors said that they have seen similar robots in reality shows and shook hands with it. Stating that the 25-kg robo dog can carry 120 kilograms of weight, startup mission officials said that they had been using this model for educational purposes too.
“We will teach students how to programme this dog,” said Libin, who works with the Startup Mission. He also explained that students have developed programmes for their out of the box ideas with the robo-dog. With facilities including a camera, sensors, and 3-D mapping, Libin also added that the dog is a key attraction wherever they take it.
Another major attraction of the festival was the motion-tracking game displayed at a stall by C-DIT. Pick the name of an animal and match it with its picture within the given time- no need to touch anywhere, for the setup will detect your hand movements and display it on the screen. The displayed game uses machine learning based hand tracking technology to provide edutainment for children, said C-DIT officials.
Organised by Chintha Publishers, the Liberate Festival was inaugurated by CPM state secretary M V Govindan on Monday.