• Home
• /
• World
• /
• Asia

India: Robots greet guests at Diwali celebrations, light sparklers

They can also serve food, extinguish fire, repair choked sewer line or water garden

Residents of a housing society in Jaipur experienced a unique Diwali this year as they celebrated the festival with four humanoid robots.

The robots, made by Club First Robotics, led the celebrations as they lit sparklers and crackers, shook hands with the residents and greeted the guests.

Speaking of the idea behind the event, robotics expert Bhuvnesh Mishra said: “When all of us are celebrating Diwali, personnel in the fire brigade and police and sanitation workers are performing their duties away from their families. In such situations, these robots can become their support.”

These robots can efficiently accomplish tasks such as extinguishing a fire in an emergency or repairing a choke in a sewer line, Mishra said.

“It is a different experience. Earlier humans used to serve food, but now robots are doing it. We saw this in expensive hotels, now it is happening in our society. We feel good,” a resident of Gulmohar Garden Society said.

“We have bought four robots to provide our society different services. They include a fire-fighting robot. We will see for 6 months how it goes,” society secretary Sher Singh said.

“There is a danger to the lives of workers in some tasks such as manual scavenging. The robot checks the gas inside and helps the workers. This reduces the risk of injury. We have also deployed security guards and firefighting robots,” Singh added.

The robots are environment-friendly as they can be charged with electricity. They also have a solar panel for charging, said the society secretary.

The robots that took part in Gulmohar Garden Society’s festivities included Xena 5.0 All Terrain Robot, Xena 6.0 Solar Manhole Cleaning Robot, Sona 3.5 AI Humanoid Robot and Sona 2.5 Service Robot Men.

Sona 2.5 manned the food service at the cafeteria while Sona 3.5 registered complaints, gave feedback and responded to society-related queries.

Xena 5.0, designed along the lines of an Army tank, is a powerful and compact robot designed for defence. It performed the guard’s duties during the festivities, activated the fire fighting system, watered the garden and conducted video surveillance. It also manned the parking area and signalled to remove vehicles parked in an incorrect manner.

On the other hand, Xena 6.0 demonstrated its skill in cleaning deep manholes and drainage lines. The solar-powered robot is equipped with GPS and a gas detection alarm.