Shalu Robot. Robot Shalu is a homemade social and educational humanoid robot developed by Dinesh Kunwar Patel, an Indian Kendriya Vidyalaya Computer Science teacher from Mumbai. It was built using waste materials and can speak 47 languages, including 9 Indian and 38 foreign languages. 

Shalu has been recognized by Dainik Bhaskar, Vaartha, TIME magazine, and Hindustan News. It is also ranked among the top 5 trending Indian robots in the global tech market.

History 

Shalu's creator, Dinesh Patel, cites the 2010 film Enthiran and Hanson Robotics' humanoid robot, Sophia, as his primary motivation for building the robot. He worked on the project for three years. The first version of the robot was introduced to the world on 23 November 2020 through a telecast on DD News.

The robot was made at home using waste materials, as well as aluminum, plastic, cardboard, wood, newspapers, and other items readily available in the local market. No 3D-printed components are used, and the cost is low, around ₹ 50,000 (approximately $ or €). Shalu's intelligent software is designed and developed by Patel using open-source libraries like TensorFlow and NLTK. Work on the development of the next version of Robot Shalu is currently in progress.

The name "Shalu" is an acronym: 'S' for Scientifically and Technically, 'H' for Highly Reciprocal, 'A' for Advanced Humanoid, 'L' for Language Communicator, and 'U' for Uniquely Designed. Together, it stands for a Scientifically Designed, Uniquely and Highly Advanced Language Communicator Humanoid.

Features 

It is reported that Shalu can speak 9 Indian languages (Hindi, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Guajarati, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Nepali) and 38 foreign languages (including English, Japanese, German, French, Italian, Chinese, and Spanish).

Shalu can recognize and remember people, as well as identify many common objects. She can understand human emotions such as anger, happiness, laughter, and jealousy, and respond accordingly. Shalu can greet people, shake hands, and recite poems. She can answer factual questions and engage in casual conversations based on a script, using artificial intelligence to understand the meaning of the conversation. She can also solve simple math problems related to time-speed-distance, Simple/Compound Interest, LCM/GCF, Factors, Prime numbers, Armstrong numbers, and more. Additionally, Shalu can conduct verbal quizzes and interviews, forecast the weather for the current and next 10 days for any location, read out horoscopes based on the date of birth, and provide current news, recipes, book reviews, movies reviews and product descriptions. She has knowledge in subjects like Physics, Chemistry, General Knowledge, History and Geography, and is capable of giving lectures and presentations in classrooms as well as seminars.

Shalu can be used as a robot teacher in schools to give lectures in the classroom based on an uploaded PowerPoint presentation developed by a human teacher. She can answer students' queries, ask them questions, and assess the correctness of their answers. She can also work as a receptionist, responding to customer queries verbally, as well as via email and SMS. Additionally, she can serve as a talking companion for senior citizens and a learning companion for young children.

Alignment with government initiatives 
Robot Shalu is dedicated to the Indian "Beti Bachao Beti Padhao" mission, and this creation is a small step toward an Atmanirbhar Bharat and Digital India Mission.

Recognition
The Ministry of Education, Government of India, as well as the then Education Minister of India, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', tweeted about Robot Shalu on 20 March 2021, verifying the aforementioned facts about the robot's linguistic capabilities and the materials used.

 Robot Shalu and her creator, Mr. Dinesh Patel, were invited as guest keynote speakers at the global technical summit "The World CIO Summit 2022", held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 22 to 24 November 2022. They addressed IT delegates from over 40 countries.
 Dinesh Patel is recognized as a "Star Maker" at Asia's largest techno festival for makers, "Maker Mela 2022." The seventh edition of Maker Mela saw 139 makers from over 15 countries participating.
 Shalu was invited to the India International Science Festival (IISF) 2021, held in Panaji, Goa, on 13 December 2021. The event was organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India.
 Shalu was invited as a guest at the International Automation Expo 2022, where she delivered a speech and became the first robot from India to address an international stage.

Shalu in Syllabus 
Robot Shalu has been included in the syllabus for the Artificial Intelligence subject for class 9 by the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) and in the computer science syllabus for class 6 by Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.

Shalu as a Teacher 
Shalu is the world's first robot teacher to teach more than 6 subjects in 47 different languages. Currently, she is teaching classes 6 to 11 at a Kendriya Vidyalaya in Mumbai, India. Robot Shalu's teaching in the classroom has been inspected by the school's principal, who expressed that the use of technology in education will enhance the Teaching-Learning Process (TLP) and lead to better learning outcomes.

Awards 
On 25 March 2021, Robot Shalu and her creator, Dinesh Patel, were awarded the "Jagran Josh Education Award 2021" for Innovation in Science and Technology by Jagranjosh.com. The award was presented by the Education Minister of India, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank'.

Dinesh said, “I am keen to make it more beneficial for students in impoverished communities. There are tens of thousands of children across India who have yet to make it to school. I aim to help those children who are willing to study but can't afford it. Shalu can be an example and a source of inspiration for young, energetic future scientists who fall behind due to a lack of support and encouragement."

Government of India 
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs of India, the Ministry of Education of India, Vigyan Prasar, the Ministry of Science and Technology of India, and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) (Govt. of India) congratulated and appreciated Dinesh Patel.

Higher Education Institutions (HELs) 
Professor Supratik Chakraborty, from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay, appreciated the robot through a letter to Patel. In the letter, he mentioned that it is a great development and that such a robot can be used in the fields of education, entertainment, and several other areas. Shalu can serve as an inspiration for the next generation of scientists. Additionally, professors from IIT Dhanbad, NIT Durgapur, K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering, PIEMR Indore, and other institutions also appreciated Mr. Patel's work.

World Records 
Shalu has been included in the Pratishtha World Records book with the title "World's First Artificially Intelligent Social and Educational Humanoid Robot Made of Waste Material." This recognition was awarded by an Indian world record agency recognized by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India.

Robot Shalu is included in the International Book of Records with the title "Most Languages Speaking Humanoid Robot Made of Waste Materials." Shalu is also featured in the India Book of Records and the Asia Book of Records under the title "Humanoid Robot with Maximum Languages."

Public appearances

Guest in Colleges and Institutions 
"Technosaga 2k22", TechFest of Sagar Institute of Research & Technology, Bhopal (SAGE University) on 11 November 2022
"Aarohan 2022", Techno-Management Fest, NIT Durgapur (3 March 2022)
CitiusTech "Abhiyantriki 2021" Tech Expo, KJ Somaiya College of Engineering and Commerce, Mumbai(19 November 2021)
"Takshak" RoboISM, IIT Dhanbad (6 October 2021)
NSS IIT Bombay titled as "The real life Dr. Vaseegaran" (1 October 2021)

Live Interviews on Media/News Channels 
On Kamayani Mumbai, by Awanindra Ashutosh (11 July 2021)
On TV9 Bharatvarsh and TV9 Gujarati (17 June 2021)
On Radio Olive 106.3 FM (Qatar FM Radio) by RJ Vivek (2 April 2021) 
 On "Meet the Guru", India Science TV program, Engage with Science, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India (22 March 2021)

References 

Humanoid robots
2020 in India
Social robots
Educational robots
Robots of India