In a first of its kind, researchers at Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi have put together a Do It Yourself kit for that would allow enthusiasts to put together a robot on their own which would follow customised music and voice commands, news sources indicate. In addition to this, the researchers have also built a robot that responds to Hindustani classical music. Dubbed Jamoora, after the traditional folk theatre in India, IIIT researchers will also be presenting a paper on the DIY robot at the prestigious User Interface Software and Technology conference, that brings together special interest groups on computer-human interaction and computer graphics.

The robot has been developed as a teaching tool which can be used schools and colleges to give a well-rounded education. According to news reports, the commands are given through keywords and the communication with the robot happens through a laptop. The toolkit is aimed as the next Lego box that can revolutionise teaching methodology in classrooms and use it as a storytelling method. This would also allow teachers to help children create their own stories and perform them with the robot. Some of the verbal cues (raags) that the robot reacts to are Shree (anger), Desh (happiness) and Jaunpuri (sadness).

The DIY robot kit is in line with robot revolution, where bots are used to help children social skills and even STEM capabilities. This consumer model with robots as teaching tool is popular in countries like Japan, wherein English-speaking robots will be deployed in 500 classrooms to improve English speaking skills of students and teachers. These AI robots have already made a mark across various functions and as schools struggle to find apt talent for specific areas, robots will be deployed as teaching tools.