New Kazakh robot to help the visually impaired

Kazakhstani robot

Kazakhstan robot will help to guard the house and go shopping, Tengrinews correspondent reporters citing the head of the laboratory for analysis and modeling of information processes of the Institute on Informatics and Management Rustam Musabayev.

According to the project leader, a prototype of the robot is ready. It has built-in sound sensors, speakers, and a video camera with a "machine" view - a development of the laboratory. That this functional device allows the robot to see, hear and understand verbal commands, using a system of speech recognition and synthesis.

The system of speech recognition and synthesis will be first tried out with people with impaired vision. The program allows converting Kazakh speech into text and teach the robot to understand verbal commands and respond to them. The system allows a person to communicate with a computer in the Kazakh language.

At this point only basic algorithms are built-in. This way the robot can be very useful to students who are engaged in robotics. They will be able to create new algorithms for the robot’s system and learn and practice the principles of interaction between hardware and software parts. This Kazakhstan-made robot will cost several times cheaper than its foreign versions, Musabayev said, which is especially valuable for Kazakhstani universities.

In addition, the Kazakh robot can be used for more advanced purposes in future. In many countries, such devices have been utilized by intelligence agencies to penetrate into difficult or dangerous to human life places or as demining machines. Musabayev said that the device could also be used in an everyday life – all depending on the coding. For example, the robot can guard a house and patrol an area transmitting video and audio signals to the owner.

Kazakhstan robot will help to guard the house and go shopping, Tengrinews correspondent reporters citing the head of the laboratory for analysis and modeling of information processes of the Institute on Informatics and Management Rustam Musabayev.

According to the project leader, a prototype of the robot is ready. It has built-in sound sensors, speakers, and a video camera with a "machine" view - a development of the laboratory. That this functional device allows the robot to see, hear and understand verbal commands, using a system of speech recognition and synthesis.

The system of speech recognition and synthesis will be first tried out with people with impaired vision. The program allows converting Kazakh speech into text and teach the robot to understand verbal commands and respond to them. The system allows a person to communicate with a computer in the Kazakh language.

At this point only basic algorithms are built-in. This way the robot can be very useful to students who are engaged in robotics. They will be able to create new algorithms for the robot’s system and learn and practice the principles of interaction between hardware and software parts. This Kazakhstan-made robot will cost several times cheaper than its foreign versions, Musabayev said, which is especially valuable for Kazakhstani universities.

In addition, the Kazakh robot can be used for more advanced purposes in future. In many countries, such devices have been utilized by intelligence agencies to penetrate into difficult or dangerous to human life places or as demining machines. Musabayev said that the device could also be used in an everyday life – all depending on the coding. For example, the robot can guard a house and patrol an area transmitting video and audio signals to the owner.

Musabaev said that in future the robot could be taught even more tasks, such as grocery shopping, given that it is able to speak and understand human speech. To do this, an algorithm of movement through the city streets and ordering of necessary purchases will need to be added to the robot’s programming. In addition, the researchers proposed using the system in Citizen Service Centers to provide basic information.

Reporting by Dmitry Khegai, writing by Dinara Urazova

speech CIS Innovation Kazakh Kazakhstan news recognition robot science Central Asia