At IISc’s Open Day, take 'Stoch' of the situation

Kicker

Visitors to the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) campus on its ‘Open Day’ on March 23 will be welcomed by a dog-like walking robot.

The Open Day is when the public can interact with the researchers on the campus, besides watching experiments live between 9 am and 5 pm.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered robot on display — developed in-house at the Robert Bosch Centre for Cyber-Physical Systems and christened “Stoch” — can walk on different terrains.

Also vying for the visitor’s attention will be projects on AI, machine learning and live demonstration of drones. Prof Y Narahari, divisional head at IISc’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, said the robot is just two feet in length.

“Stoch has 12 joints (three per leg) to generate motion similar to a quadrupedal animal (a dog or cat),” added Dhaivat Dholakiya from the Institute.

The prototype of the self-operational robot which the Institute has developed could also be used as a rover on the moon, Prof Narahari revealed. “We have used Reinforcement Learning and AI-based technique to generate these walking behaviours,” Dholakiya said.

“In a nutshell, we’ve tried to make the robot learn the walking behaviour by itself using the algorithm.”

The unmanned aerial vehicles show by the department of aerospace engineering is expected to draw more crowds this time as well.

IISc said at least 1,000 of its 4,500 students are involved in organising the Open Day. Visitors will be engaged in science lectures, demos and exhibitions.

A special children’s zone has been planned at the old aerospace building. Parents and teachers are barred at this area.

The IISc, taking cue from the recent fire incident at Aero India, have decided to stay on high alert.

They have sought permission from the department of fire and emergency services to station a fire extinguisher on the campus.