We have seen the use of humanoid robots in different healthcare and public places around the world throughout the current coronavirus epidemic, supporting medical workers and disinfecting areas. A hospital in India has now introduced in its premises a cute yet useful robot to help its patients interact with friends and family members.
Mitra Robot is a humanoid robot designed and developed by the Bangalore-based Indian start-up Invento Robotics, founded by Balaji Viswanathan. In November 2017, Mitra Robot made her first appearance at the 2017 Global Entrepreneurship Summit, where she welcomed Ivanka Trump, senior advisor to the President of the United States, and also interacted with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The robot 'Mitra' roams the clinic to support the patients. The robot 's name in Hindi means "friend." Indeed, the robot is a friend to those who would like to speak to their friends.
The five-feet tall robot, Mitra-2 is India's first humanoid robot to be developed and designed to engage in hospitality management and efficiency in the work place. Mitra can be incorporated with a variety of CRM applications and communicate with voice-over customers.It comes with two cameras within its sharp eyes for facial recognition. This helps the robot to recall the faces of hospital personnel and patients.
Mitra runs on a proprietary OS. Its body is made of fibreglass and it is fitted with a touchscreen and could last up to 8–10 hours once charged.This robot is designed to understand speech in multiple languages. Mitra 3 has three degrees of freedom on each hand and one on the head (shoulder, elbow and finger movements), allowing Mitra 3 to greet visitors with a 'namaste' and display other hand gestures such as beckoning people as well.